Cover illustration

March 15, 2005; 102 (11)
Cover image expansion

Cover image: Representation of the Lactobacillus acidophilus chromosome. L. acidophilus is an important symbiotic bacterium found in the gastrointestinal tracts of humans and other animals. The organism lacks biosynthetic capacity for most vitamins and amino acids but encodes many genes for transporter proteins and fermentative enzymes, consistent with its residence in a nutrient-rich environment. See the article by Altermann et al. on pages 3906–3912.