The Role of Microbial Biotechnology in the Development of Sustainable Biopolymers

Dear Colleagues,

The widespread use of traditional plastics has resulted in governments and citizens today being confronted with their harmful effects on the environment and on human and animal health. For this reason, and considering the global demands of society, the search for new polymers that can replace petroleum-based plastics is urgent. In this sense, microbial synthesized polymers are considered to be the main candidates to achieve this change, mainly due to the interesting properties they exhibit, e.g., biodegradability, biocompatibility, non-toxicity, and thermoplasticity, in addition to the improvement of these properties through the subsequent derivatives that can be obtained through post-synthesis chemical treatments. However, one of the current barriers to industrial-scale production is the high cost of the pure substrates. Within the framework of new environmental policies, the use of renewable raw materials and by-products is considered as the first option to achieve feasible industrial production. This approach also facilitates the integration of the production of new biopolymers into circular economy strategies. Microbial biotechnology allows progress to be made on new developments to replace traditional plastics. New biotechnological techniques have made it possible to study the mechanisms of biopolymer synthesis in microorganisms in depth. In addition, they have made it possible to introduce new functionalities into the microorganism in order to valorize residues of different natures, to increase the production yield or even to improve the mechanical properties of the biopolymers. We are confident that the new advances related to the topic of this Special Issue will be of great interest to many professionals and academics. It is a pleasure to invite you to submit original articles or reviews on the importance of microbial biotechnology and new genomic advances in the development of new biopolymers.

Dr. Alejandro Chamizo-Ampudia
Dr. Silvia González-Rojo
Guest Editors

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• microbial biotechnology
• biopolymers
• circular economy
• waste valorization
• bioplastics
• sustainable polymers
• microorganisms
• microalgae