David A. Hodgson is a Reader in Microbiology in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Warwick. Christopher M. Thomas is Professor of Molecular Genetics in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Birmingham.

"...well written and illustrated..." Quarterly Review of Biology

• Editor's preface; 1. Microbial reaction to environment: bacterial stress responses revisited in the genomic-proteomic era F. C. Neidhardt; 2. Gene variation and gene regulation in bacterial pathogenesis D. Hood and R. Moxon; 3. DNA topology and regulation of bacterial gene expression C. J. Dorman; DNA rearrangements and regulation of gene expression I. C. Blomfield; 4. Structures of multisubunit DNA-dependent RNA polymerases R. D. Finn, E. V. Orlova, M. van Heel and M. Buck; 5. The ECF sigma factors of Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2) M. S. B. Paget, H-J. Hong, M. Bibb and M. J. Buttner; 6. Secrets of bacterial transcription initiation taught by the Escherichia coli FNR protein D. Browning, D. Lee, J. Green and S. Busby; 7. What can be learned from the LacR family of Escherichia coli? B. Muller-Hill; 8. Regulation of the L-arabinose operon in Escherichia coli R. Schleif; 9. Transcription termination control in bacteria T. M. Henkin; 10. Antisense RNAs in programmed cell death K. Gerdes; 11. Control of signal transduction in the sporulation phosphorelay J. A. Hoch; 12. A stranglehold on a transcriptional activator by its partner regulatory protein - the case of the NifL-NifA two-component regulatory system R. Dixon; 13. Is anybody here? Cooperative bacterial gene regulation via peptide signals between Gram-positive bacteria D. A. Morrison; 14. Quorum sensing in Gram-negative bacteria: global regulons controlled by cell-density-dependent chemical signalling N. A. Whitehead, A. K. P. Harris, P. Williams and G. P. C. Salmond; Index.