Cover photograph (Copyright © 2003, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.): Scanning electron micrograph of the myxobacterium Stigmatella aurantiaca fruiting body on a piece of decaying forest wood, from which they are usually isolated. S. aurantiaca fruiting bodies are orange, occur in patches of many hundreds, are usually about 100 to 200 μ tall, and consist of a stalk supporting several sporangioles that house resting cells called myxospores. (Photo by David White colorized by Yves Brun using NIH Image.) (For an article in this issue dealing with the ASM Conference on Prokaryotic Development held in July 2002, see page 1128.)