The journal publishes research on prokaryotic and eukaryotic microorganisms such as yeasts, fungi, bacteria, archaea, and protozoa, as well as on interactions between pathogenic microorganisms and their environments or hosts.

It focuses in particular on microbiology and genetics; molecular and cell biology; metabolism and physiology; signal transduction and development; biotechnology; phytopathology; and environmental microbiology ,and ecology.

The journal was originally published by Gustav Fischer Verlag.

It was originally titled Centralblatt für Bakteriologie, Parasitenkunde und Infektionskrankheiten, then as the Zentralblatt für Bakteriologie, Parasitenkunde, Infektionskrankheiten und Hygiene until volume 136 (1981), and then as the Zentralblatt für Mikrobiologie from volumes 137 (1982) to 148 (1993).

Formerly published in German, it is now an English-language journal.