title: Apples, oranges and unknown fruit.
abstract: For many microbiologists their ultimate goal is to understand microbial life at the whole-cell level. Here, Fred Neidhardt gives his view that attention must be paid to the growth conditions for this goal to be realized.
authors.forename: Frederick C
authors.initials: FC
authors.lastname: Neidhardt
mesh_terms: D001419:Bacteria / Q000166:cytology* / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism; D003625:Data Collection / Q000592:standards*; D008829:Microbiology; D008954:Models, Biological