Dear Colleagues,

Photosynthetic organisms are milestones in the history of life since they have made it possible to shape the Earth’s anoxygenic atmosphere. Today, all these organisms provide the O₂ we breathe and absorb the CO₂ produced by most industrial activities and fossil-based fuel consumption. Therefore, in a certain sense, cyanobacteria and plants are still responsible for life on Earth and ecosystem health. Algae have often been associated with plants, and cyanobacteria (or blue-green algae) have been considered to be close to microalgae, since they derive energy from sunlight through photosynthesis, like algae and plants. However, they do not have a nuclear membrane, and therefore, they are prokaryotes. Cyanobacteria, microalgae, and plants are beneficial and promising organisms for the sustainable production of food, feed, materials, chemicals, fuels, and for the ecohandling of agricultural and industrial wastewaters. In recent decades, intense human activity has led to the spread of different pollutants in Earth ecosystems, impacting fauna and flora, consequently impacting ecosystem and human health. These pollutants are diverse in their structure and origin, including antibiotics, metals, petroleum hydrocarbons, pesticides, plastics, and so on. Hence, their treatment is complex and faces different physicochemical and biological challenges. In addition, the adaptability and maintenance of the degrading organism(s), among other features, result in the need for an in-depth characterization of the degrading organism(s) and the metabolic pathways involved (e.g., growth kinetics, enzymatic activity, and genetic make-up and metabolic response). This complexity urges us to create solutions that integrate knowledge gathered from distinct fields, such as molecular biology, biotechnology, microbiology, green chemistry, and environmental engineering, among others. The solutions might be driven by the development of new ecotechnological tools that maximize the efficiency of the remediation process.

Research today should aim at building a greener future. Therefore, this Special Issue of Plants is focused on the most up-to-date research (original articles, short communications, and reviews) related but not limited to:

• Eco/biotechnological applications of microalgae, cyanobacteria, and plants, imparting potential benefits to the environment and ecosystem sustainability;
• Remediation of polluted environments (e.g., waters, agriculture soils);
• Sustainable microalgal and cyanobacterial biomass production and applications;
• Identification and characterization of novel degrading metabolic pathways;
• Development of novel bioremediation treatments;
• Development of hybrid bioremediation systems coupling chemical and biological strategies.

Prof. Dr. Leonardo Martín Pérez
Guest Editor

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• bioremediation 
• degradation pathways
• redox processes
• phytoremediation
• green biotechnology
• environmental engineering
• wastewater treatment systems
• sustainable biomass production