This issue is the last to be published in the current millennium. With this in mind, Allan Hamilton, former chairman of the UK National Committee for Microbiology, looks at the significance of microbes over the past 1000 years and offers some thoughts on the challenges that will face microbiologists in the future. Other articles focus on the hot topic of genomics, an area of research that offers exciting potential for solving many microbiological problems in the coming years. Simon Baumberg, Professor of Genetics at the University of Leeds, introduces the subject with an overview of the techniques involved in sequencing microbial genomes and the importance of bioinformatics in making sense of the results.
Sequence homology tells scientists how genes are related to each other and what their history is.
Andrew Davison, a herpesvirologist at the MRC Institute of Virology, Glasgow, explains how genomics is leading to a greater understanding of the role of gene capture in viral evolution. Eddie Holmes, a Research Fellow at the University of Oxford, expands on this theme. With ever-growing problems of antibiotic resistance , the fight is on for pharmaceutical companies to find new antimicrobial drugs to combat infectious disease in the very near future. In this article, Aileen Allsop, who is Vice-President and Head of Infection Therapy Area for AstraZeneca in Cheshire, describes how genomics and bioinformatics are transforming research in this field. Horizontal transfer of genes in bacteria has been studied for several years, especially with regard to extrachromosomal elements.