This special thematic issue of FEMS Microbiology Reviews is truly special, because it contains contributions to a meeting that is yet to happen! As many others, the thirteenth International Symposium on Lactic Acid Bacteria (LAB13) was a victim of the COVID-19 pandemic and has been postponed to next year. The conference is held every 3 years in The Netherlands, and is attended by researchers from academia and industry from all over the world, reflecting the importance of these microorganisms in food, health and basic science. As a tradition, the invited speakers are asked to contribute not only by a talk, but also by a thorough review on the topic of their presentation. These papers were already under review by the time it became clear that the coronavirus would not be contained and that we had to postpone the meeting. However, we decided to move on and publish the reviews now, when still timely, and we are eagerly awaiting updated presentations next summer.

中文翻译：

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乳酸菌座谈会——边看书边看书

本期FEMS 微生物学评论特刊真的很特别，因为它包含对尚未举行的会议的贡献！与其他许多人一样，第十三届乳酸菌国际研讨会 (LAB13) 是 COVID-19 大流行的受害者，已被推迟到明年。该会议每 3 年在荷兰举行一次，来自世界各地的学术界和工业界的研究人员参加，反映了这些微生物在食品、健康和基础科学中的重要性。作为传统，受邀演讲者不仅需要通过演讲做出贡献，还需要对其演讲主题进行彻底审查。当冠状病毒无法被遏制并且我们不得不推迟会议时，这些文件已经在接受审查。然而，我们决定现在就继续发表评论，当仍然及时的时候，