The present volume contains 17 lectures of the 41 st Mosbach Colloquium of the Gesellschaft fiir Biologische Chemie, held from April 5-7, 1990 on the topic "The Molecular Basis of Bacterial Metabolism." From the beginning it was not the intention of the organizers to present a comprehensive account, but rather to select new, exciting progress on sometimes exotic reactions of specifically bacterial, mainly anaerobic metabolism. Members of our society had contributed to this progress to an extent that greatly stimulated the scientific exchange with international colleagues during the days in...