<p>This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.</p> <p><italic>Bacillus subtilis</italic> is a sporulating Gram-positive bacterium that lives primarily in the soil
and associated water sources. Whilst this bacterium has been studied extensively in the
laboratory, relatively few studies have been undertaken to study its activity in natural
environments. The publication of the <italic>B. subtilis</italic> genome sequence and subsequent
systematic functional analysis programme have provided an opportunity to develop tools
for analysing the role and expression of <italic>Bacillus</italic> genes <italic>in situ</italic>. In this paper we discuss
analytical approaches that are being developed to relate genes to function in environments
such as the rhizosphere.</p>
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Comp Funct Genomics. 2001 Feb; 2(1):22-24