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Microorganisms
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Microbiology of Drylands: Diversity, Ecology, Physiology and Applications
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Microbiology of Drylands: Diversity, Ecology, Physiology and Applications

A special issue of Microorganisms (ISSN 2076-2607). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Microbiology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 April 2024 | Viewed by 4355

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Benito Gomez-Silva

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Guest Editor
Unidad de Bioquímica, Departamento Biomédico, Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad de Antofagasta, Antofagasta, Chile
Interests: fungi; genomics; pathogenic fungi; fungal infection; mycology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Stephen B. Pointing

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Guest Editor
Yale-NUS College & Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore, Singapore City, Singapore
Interests: biogeography; desert microbiology; environmental microbiology; hot springs microbiology; microbial ecology
Dr. Ramón Alberto Batista-García

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Guest Editor
Centro de Investigación en Dinámica Celular, Instituto de Investigación en Ciencias Básicas y Aplicadas, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos, Ave. Universidad 1001, Col. Chamilpa, Cuernavaca, Morelos 62209, Mexico
Interests: fungal bioremediation; extremophilic fungi; xenobiotic transformation; omics approaches
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Based on the aridity index (the ratio between average annual precipitation and potential evapotranspiration) drylands are categorized in four biomes: dry subhumid, semiarid, arid, and hyperarid systems and they represent more than 40% of the global terrestrial area. These landscapes, particularly arid and hyperarid systems, have natural or anthropogenic environmental conditions considered extreme and limiting to life; nonetheless, drylands are hotspots of biological diversity where prokaryotic (e.g., bacteria, archaea) and eukaryotic organisms (e.g., microalgae, fungi, plants) dwell based on adaptive strategies to conditions such as desiccation, UV irradiation, and elevated salinity, among others. Evaporites and other lithic substrates, biocrusts, fog oases and rhizosphere soils are examples of islands of fertility in these arid environments. Scientific research on desert microbiology has focused on biodiversity, temporal, spatial and functional ecology, and the adaptations to extreme conditions. Applied research has considered how desert microorganisms can be harnessed to stabilize soils and facilitate agriculture in drylands. Major knowledge gaps remain in all of these areas, and in this special issue we are pleased to invite you to contribute with your work in order to broaden our understanding on the microbiology of dryland ecosystems in our planet.

Dr. Benito Gomez-Silva
Prof. Dr. Stephen B. Pointing
Dr. Ramón Alberto Batista-García
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Microorganisms is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • drylands, deserts, microbial communities
  • biomolecules
  • gene and gene clusters
  • ecological insights
  • applied microbiology
  • extreme stress
  • physiological adaptation
  • biocrust
  • rhizosphere

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

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15 pages, 3840 KiB  
Article
The Distribution and Influencing Factors of Hypolithic Microbial Communities in the Hexi Corridor
by Yidan Zhao, Fasi Wu, Yang Liu, Minghui Wu, Shengjie Wang, Henry J. Sun, Guangxiu Liu, Yiyang Zhang, Xiaowen Cui, Wei Zhang, Tuo Chen and Gaosen Zhang
Microorganisms 2023, 11(5), 1212; https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms11051212 - 05 May 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1228
Abstract
The Hexi Corridor is an arid region in northwestern China, where hypoliths are widely distributed, resulting from large amounts of translucent stone pavements. In this region, the water and heat distributions are uneven, with a descent gradient from east to west, which can [...] Read more.
The Hexi Corridor is an arid region in northwestern China, where hypoliths are widely distributed, resulting from large amounts of translucent stone pavements. In this region, the water and heat distributions are uneven, with a descent gradient from east to west, which can affect the area’s biological composition. The impact of environmental heterogeneity on the distribution of hypolithic microbial communities in this area is poorly understood, and this is an ideal location to investigate the factors that may influence the composition and structure of hypolithic microbial communities. An investigation of different sites with differences in precipitation between east and west revealed that the colonization rate decreased from 91.8% to 17.5% in the hypolithic community. Environmental heterogeneity influenced both the structure and function of the hypolithic community, especially total nitrogen (TN) and soil organic carbon (SOC). However, the effect on taxonomic composition was greater than that on ecological function. The dominant bacterial phyla in all sample sites were Cyanobacteria, Actinobacteria, Proteobacteria, and Deinococcus-Thermus, but the abundances varied significantly between the sampling sites. The eastern site had the highest relative abundance of Proteobacteria (18.43%) and Bacteroidetes (6.32%), while the western site had a higher relative abundance in the phyla Cyanobacteria (62%) and Firmicutes (1.45%); the middle site had a higher relative abundance of Chloroflexi (8.02%) and Gemmatimonadetes (1.87%). The dominant phylum in the fungal community is Ascomycota. Pearson correlation analysis showed that the soil’s physicochemical properties were also associated with changes in community diversity at the sample sites. These results have important implications for better understanding the community assembly and ecological adaptations of hypolithic microorganisms. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Microbiology of Drylands: Diversity, Ecology, Physiology and Applications)
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Review

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15 pages, 1573 KiB  
Review
‘Follow the Water’: Microbial Water Acquisition in Desert Soils
by Don A Cowan, S. Craig Cary, Jocelyne DiRuggiero, Frank Eckardt, Belinda Ferrari, David W. Hopkins, Pedro H. Lebre, Gillian Maggs-Kölling, Stephen B. Pointing, Jean-Baptiste Ramond, Dana Tribbia and Kimberley Warren-Rhodes
Microorganisms 2023, 11(7), 1670; https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms11071670 - 27 Jun 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1854
Abstract
Water availability is the dominant driver of microbial community structure and function in desert soils. However, these habitats typically only receive very infrequent large-scale water inputs (e.g., from precipitation and/or run-off). In light of recent studies, the paradigm that desert soil microorganisms are [...] Read more.
Water availability is the dominant driver of microbial community structure and function in desert soils. However, these habitats typically only receive very infrequent large-scale water inputs (e.g., from precipitation and/or run-off). In light of recent studies, the paradigm that desert soil microorganisms are largely dormant under xeric conditions is questionable. Gene expression profiling of microbial communities in desert soils suggests that many microbial taxa retain some metabolic functionality, even under severely xeric conditions. It, therefore, follows that other, less obvious sources of water may sustain the microbial cellular and community functionality in desert soil niches. Such sources include a range of precipitation and condensation processes, including rainfall, snow, dew, fog, and nocturnal distillation, all of which may vary quantitatively depending on the location and geomorphological characteristics of the desert ecosystem. Other more obscure sources of bioavailable water may include groundwater-derived water vapour, hydrated minerals, and metabolic hydro-genesis. Here, we explore the possible sources of bioavailable water in the context of microbial survival and function in xeric desert soils. With global climate change projected to have profound effects on both hot and cold deserts, we also explore the potential impacts of climate-induced changes in water availability on soil microbiomes in these extreme environments. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Microbiology of Drylands: Diversity, Ecology, Physiology and Applications)
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