Molecular microbiology in antibacterial research

The special issue of Journal of Microbiology contains six reviews dealing with cutting edge research achievements in the fields of molecular microbiology focusing on antibacterial research. In a more specific sense, this special issue helps outline the progress of 21^st-century basic molecular microbiology that can encompass related disciplines regarding a variety of interactions involving bacteria during bacterial pathogenesis and their control: sociomicrobiology (interaction between bacteria), immunology (interaction between bacteria and their hosts), and bacteriophage (phage) virology (interaction between bacteria and their parasites). Recent advancements have rapidly been made in our understanding of the real situation regarding polymicrobial interactions during bacterial infection and in non-mammalian host infection models to uncover the molecular mechanisms of host-bacteria interactions, which will complement our growing knowledge about immune responses toward bacterial and environmental elicitors. Moreover, much attention has recently been paid to phages and phage products as potential antibacterial therapeutics in the era of antibiotic resistance. Below, I summarize the individual contributions in these distinct categories.