General
The graphical abstract is one single-panel, horizontal (landscape orientation) rectangular image that is designed to give readers an immediate understanding of the take-home message of the paper. It should be simple, but informative.

Technical requirements are as follows:

• Size: 858 × 229 pixels (X-Y axes) at 400 dpi.
• Font style: Arial
• Font size: 10-16
• Accepted file type: PNG, JPG
• Content: the abstract should summarise the findings of the manuscript
• Colours: Effective use of colour is encouraged for increasing the aesthetic quality of the graphical abstracts and directing the reader's attention to focal points of interest
• The graphical abstracts should be drawn within a box of the indicated size (858 × 229 pixels)

Content
The graphical abstract should:

• Have a clear start and end, "reading" from left to right
• Emphasise the take-home message of the paper
• Not include data items of any type; all the content should be in a graphical form
• Use simple labels
• The use of text should be limited

Example 1.

• The panel tells a story from left to right
• Names are present only in the first panel for designation of the objects
• Italics font is used for bacteria names (or any latin-origin name)

Example 2.

• The panel tells a story from left to right
• The bottom legend clarifies the meaning of the abstract objects