The Evolution and Adaptation of Microbes in the Environment
A special issue of Microorganisms (ISSN 2076-2607). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Microbiology".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 March 2024) | Viewed by 3300
Special Issue Editors
Interests: microbial ecology; minimal ecosystems; early microbial life
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Microorganisms constantly interact with their habitats, selectively taking up compounds from their surroundings to meet their needs, but also excreting metabolic products and thus modifying their environment. Communication and cooperation, both within and among microbial species, is thought to have produced the properties that give some microbes a selective advantage over others. Symbiosis can play an essential role in determining evolution and adaptation to new habitats. On the other hand, the conditions to modulate microbial activities have been altered by human intervention. The use of antibiotics has produced microbes that have evolved multiresistance to normally prescribed drugs. We know that our symbiotic microbes help us to maintain our healthy bodies. In addition, our species has created new conditions for microbial expansion, especially significant for dispersing or controlling human and animal infectious diseases. Could these modern human activities represent a challenge to microorganisms? The history of life on Earth is mostly the dominance of single-celled prokaryotes. The small size, ubiquity, metabolic versatility and genetic plasticity (horizontal transfer) of microbes allow them to tolerate and quickly adapt to unfavorable and/or changing environmental conditions.
Call for papers: This Special Issue entitled ”The Evolution and Adaptation of Microbes in the Environment“ aims to present recent research on any aspect of the adaptation of microbial communities to different environments, from those considered “habitable” to those considered “extreme” (from the human point of view). Its focal points include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Adaptation of microbial communities to different environments. Marine and terrestrial habitats and biotopes.
- Adaptation of microbes to extreme environmental conditions. What is really an “extremophile”? Acido- and alkaliphile, adaptation to high (60 °C to 96 °C) or low temperatures (4 °C to -12 °C), adaptation to high salinity, oligotrophy, and other adaptations.
- Evolution of microbes to form communities and occupy new habitats. Genome modification and adaptation. Horizontal gene transfer.
- Symbiosis as an evolutionary force. Role of symbiosis (intracellular or extracellular, and among microbial populations and communities) in evolution.
- History of the microbial life on Earth. How microbes evolved and thrived in the different ages of our planet.
- The microbiomes of animals. Normal and dystopic human microbiomes. The holobiont concept and its implications. Microbial multiresistance to antibiotics and chemotherapeutics.
Reviews, original research papers, communications and translational articles are welcome.
Prof. Dr. Ricardo Guerrero
Dr. Mercedes Berlanga
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
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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.
