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On the Cover: Fluorescence micrographs of living root hairs of Phaseolus vulgaris show the effect of nodulation (Nod) factor treatment on the organization of the actin cytoskeleton. The hairs were injected with fluorescein isothiocyanate-phalloidin, a vital stain that is specific for F-actin, and imaged along a medial plane in a confocal microscope. The left cell was pretreated with an inactive chitin oligomer (control); the right cell was pretreated for 15 min with active Nod factor purified from Rhizobium etli. Cárdenas et al. (pp 871-877) report that Nod factor application caused a rapid fragmentation of the long cables of F-actin (left) into short segments, yielding a diffusely fluorescent image (right). It is suggested that these changes in the organization of actin contribute to the subsequent events of root hair curling and the formation of the infection thread.