Dear Colleagues,

Bacteriophages of thermophiles, also known as thermophages, have attracted increasing interest due to their important roles in many biogeochemical and ecological processes, as well as biotechnology applications. However, they are underrepresented in the known prokaryotic virosphere, due to the lack of in-depth investigation. Thus, there is considerable potential for the discovery of novel bacteriophage–host systems in various environments. This Special Issue invites works on thermophages and thermophilic ‘Bacillus group’ bacteria, including some moderately thermophilic Bacillus sp. and highly thermophilic Geobacillus sp. and those living under a temperature of approximately 45–70^oC. Ecosystems that provide these conditions are diverse and include terrestrial hot springs, deep-sea hydrothermal vents areas, shallow ocean waters above geothermally active beds, human-generated hot waters, hot deserts, compost piles, greenhouse soils, silage, rotting straw, river sludge, stable manure and digested sewage sludge, among others. We aim to collect manuscripts that deal with the discovery of new ‘Bacillus group’ thermophages, their ecology, genomics, proteomics, molecular biology and biotechnology applications. We also welcome manuscripts that deal wih the comparative deciphering of the molecular basis of the thermophages’ biology and analysis of the environmental aspects of the thermophages’ effect on the thermophile community. The majority of detected bacteriophages of the ‘Bacillus group’ belong to the Siphovus morphotype, and others belong to the Myovirus and Podovirus morphotypes. All of their genomes are composed of dsDNA, either linear, circular or circularly permuted. Undoubtedly, with increased research, greater ‘Bacillus group’ thermophage diversification is expected.

Prof. Dr. Piotr Skowron
Prof. Dr. Alicja Wegrzyn
Guest Editors

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• bacteriophages
• thermophilic bacteria
• Bacillus group
• phage therapy
• host specificity
• genome sequencing
• viral ecology
• molecular biology
• biotechnology
• microbial diversity