The 1st edition of our Research Topic "The Bacterial Cell: Coupling between Growth, Nucleoid Replication, Cell Division and Shape” was published as an e-book in May 2016 (See: http://journal.frontiersin.org/researchtopic/2905/the-bacterial-cell-coupling-between-growth-nucleoid-replication-cell-division-and-shape.) The fast pace at which the field of bacterial physiology is moving forward warrants already the sequel. As a sign of growing interest two workshops touching on this topic have already taken place this year: "Stochasticity in the Cell Cycle" held in Jerusalem (Israel) by the Institute of Advanced Studies and EMBO's "Cell Size Regulation" held in Joachimsthal (Germany). Several new groups entered the field recently and many established groups made significant advances. The techniques pioneered by the quantitative microbiologists decades ago, combined now with state-of-the-art microscopy and microfludics, have provided remarkable amounts of quantitative data, which need yet to be put into a broader theoretical perspective.

Also, molecular underpinnings of these observations remain largely to be discovered. This second 2nd edition is aimed to report on these recent experimental and technical advances and to provide a forum to discuss new theoretical ideas that can drive future research.
This edition will focus on the following specific questions: What triggers initiation of chromosome replication? How is cell division coordinated with replication both spatially and temporally? How is cell size controlled and linked to the rate of mass growth? What role plays physical organization of the chromosomes in their segregation and in regulation of cell division?

This Research Topic will bring together contributions from diverse array of scientists spanning the disciplines of microbiology, biochemistry, genetics, experimental and theoretical biophysics. It is our conviction that via interdisciplinary exchange of ideas the above mentioned complex and multifaceted questions can be finally resolved.

Keywords: bacterial cell, Nucleoid Replication, Cell Division, Min system, Orisome, Replisome, Macromolecular Hyperstructures

Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.