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Cover illustration (Copyright © 2009, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.): Darwin once commented that all true classification is genealogical, but he could hardly have foreseen that among bacteria and archaea the tree of life includes horizontal gene transfer at apparently high rates. Thus, successive generations may acquire genes from organisms residing on distant branches of the tree of life in addition to the genes vertically inherited from direct ancestors. This is symbolized by the three domains of life (Bacteria, Archaea, and Eukarya) being connected by vertical (the strictly bifurcating tree) and horizontal (the crisscrossing red lines) inheritance.
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