The last decade has seen an explosion in our understanding of how bacterial pathogens trick, cajole, usurp and parasitize their various hosts. This renaissance is due to the convergence of molecular and cellular techniques with the power of microbial genetics. The purpose of this volume is to introduce recent advances in understanding selected systems chosen from both plant and animal hosts of bacterial pathogens. This somewhat nonobvious choice of topics was spurred by the recent findings, detailed by several conributors to this volume, of common systems used to secrete virulence factors from pathogens of both plants and animals. These serendipitous findings underscored the importance of basic research approaches to parallel problems in biology. More importantly, they brought together investigators who may not have otherwise become conversant with each other's experimental systems. I, for one, find the kinds of synergism reflected in a volume of this sort to be one of the most pleasant aspects of science and hope that the reader, whether a newcomer to the field or an expert, can find a new slant to old problems in the reviews contained h,E:lre. It was, however, necessary to limit volume length, and this has forced the exclusion of a number of fascinating bacterial pathosystems.

List of Contents

Epiphytic Fitness of Phytopathogenic Bacteria: Physiological Adaptations for Growth and Survival
Pathogenicity Determinants and Global Regulation of Pathogenicity of Xanthomorias campestris pv. campestris
Erwinia chysarithemi and Pseudomonas syringae: Plant Pathogens Trafficking in Extracellular Virulence Proteins
hrp Genes of Phytopathogenic Bacteria
The Enigmatic Avirulence Genes of Phytopathogenic Bacteria
The Genetic and Chemical Basis of Recognition in the Agrobacterium: Plant Interaction
Does Rhizobium Avoid the Host Response?
Molecular and Cellular Mechanisms of Salmonella Pathogenesis
Molecular and Genetic Determinants of the Listeria monocytogenes Infectious Process
Shigella flexneri: Genetics of Entry and Intercellular Dissemination in Epithelial Cells
Yersinia Pathogenicity Factors
Surface-Associated and Soluble Components of Vibrio cholerae Involved in Bacteria-Host Interactions
Biology of the Pathogenic Neisseriae
PathogenicityMechanisms of Bordetella.