The Genus Yersinia Entering the Functional Genomic Era

For the eighth time the yersiniologists all over the world gathered together when the International Symposium on Yersinia was organized by University of Turku and Turku Microbiology Society in Turku, Finland. Over 250 delegates from 28 countries attended the Symposium. The Symposium logo (Picture 4, next page) presents a bacteriophage attached to the surface of the bacterium. One can easily imagine that most of the aspects covered in this Symposium are included in the logo: the bacteriophage genome encodes for structural proteins, adhesins and effector proteins that interact with the host cell in most intricate ways to carry out their mission. Life of the bacteriophage depends on the tightly regulated interplay between the phage and the host proteins. This all is also true between Yersinia and the different hosts and environments it encounters during its life cycle. This Symposium Proceedings volume is based on the oral and poster presentations given during the Symposium. The volume has been divided into six parts covering topics such as genomics, surface structures, bacteriophages, molecular and cellular pathogenesis, molecular epidemiology and diagnostics, gene regulation, clinical aspects and vaccines. These topics reflect righteously the present trends in the bacteriology research.