Editorial: The Role of Microbial Communities in Environmental Engineering Systems

Yuepeng Sun^1*Dunzhu Li²Bo Li³Keli Zhao⁴

• ¹Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot, China
• ²The University of Dublin Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland
• ³Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou, China
• ⁴Zhejiang A and F University, Hangzhou, China

Microbial communities, comprising bacteria, archaea, fungi, algae, and viruses, exhibit remarkable ubiquity and broad applications across diverse fields. However, their systematic integration into environmental engineering systems remains relatively underexplored. Advances in microbial analysis technologies and methods (e.g., highthroughput sequencing, meta-omics, and bioinformatics) are enabling better integration of microbial research findings into the design and optimization of environmental engineering systems. Despite these advancements, significant gaps remain in our understanding of how microbial communities can be harnessed to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of waste treatment processes. Our Research Topic was initiated on 02 Sep 2024 and closed on 29 Apr 2025, with the help from handling editors of Frontiers publisher, aiming to advance the knowledges in the roles of microbial communities in diverse environmental engineering systems.Our Research Topic attracted a wide range of submissions, reflecting the global interests. After a rigorous peer-review process, we accepted 6 high-quality articles that address critical gaps, provide actionable insights and review advance in specific field.By 5 th June, 2025, the topic has a total views and downloads of 9,138, article views of 6,398, and total downloads of 1,298. The accepted articles described microbial communities in systems for treating sewage sludge, food wastes, and wastewater, highlighting their roles and applications in biodegradation and resource recovery (Mendoza et al., 2025;Bird et al., 2025), solid waste treatment and management (Mironov et al., 2024;Chen et al., 2025a), and wastewater treatment (Li et al., 2025;Chen et al., 2025b).These studies demonstrated significant progress in developing microbial-based solutions for key environmental challenges. Mendoza et al. comprehensively reviewed biodegradation strategies for agricultural plastic waste, identifying bacteria, fungi, algae and insect larvae as effective agents for low-density polyethylene degradation while outlining optimization parameters for enhanced efficiency (Mendoza et al., 2025).Bird and colleagues advanced microbial fuel cell technology by elucidating how substrate complexity and mass transfer conditions influence electroactive microbial communities (Geobacteraceae, Rhodocyclaceae and Burkholderiaceae), providing crucial insights for coupling MFCs with anaerobic digestion systems (Bird et al., 2025).In organic waste management, Mironov et al. developed an innovative composting approach by inoculating Bacillus and Penicillium strains, demonstrating how microbial composition and timing regulate metabolic pathways for accelerated food waste degradation (Mironov et al., 2024). Another review by Chen et al. highlighted cutting-edge biotechnologies for in situ sludge reduction, including enzymatic hydrolysis, phage therapy, and biofilm manipulation, presenting sustainable alternatives to conventional sludge disposal methods (Chen et al., 2025a).To combat the antibiotic resistance and remove contaminants in wastewater, Li