Scope

Microorganisms are, physiologically, the most versatile organisms on Earth. The diverse capabilities of individual microbes and consortia of microbes have long been recognized as not only essential to the sustenance of the natural biosphere, but also as a source of tremendous activity that can potentially be harnessed to address societal needs or advance human endeavors. The discovery, mechanistic understanding and exploitation of this resource in the physical world is achieved through biotechnology. Research aimed towards these goals is at the heart of Microbiotechnology.

Within this specialty, Microbiotechnology covers a broad depth and breadth of environmental microbiology. This includes bioremediation, where the metabolic versatility of microbes is on particular display, spanning a diversity of topics ranging from basic research on biodegradative mechanisms to field applications of microbial processes for the dissipation of environmental contaminants. The spectrum of contaminants ranges from metals and radionuclides to organic compounds of all types. This specialty also serves as a venue for research on microbial ecotoxicology. This concerns investigations into the interactions between microbes and environmental toxicants, the latter of which includes the diverse array of organic and inorganic substances that have been released into the environment for many decades as well as those relatively newly introduced, such as nanomaterials. The specialty includes applied microbiology, which broadly encompasses research into new or improved uses of microbes in agriculture, industry and environmental applications. From microbes in the biofuel industry to plant growth promoting bacteria to the manufacturing of bio-based products. For example, incorporating the improvement of microbial fermentation processes that enable scale-up and industrial applications of bioremediation. Microbiotechnology includes research into the utilization of microbes as analytical systems themselves, such as biosensors, and approaches to track and quantify microbes and microbial processes.

Microbiotechnology welcomes fundamental research, as well as applied investigations, in all of these areas of focus. The specialty encourages studies that are hypothesis-driven, examining underlying mechanisms and addressing well-articulated questions. This includes proof-of-concept novel approaches with a clear route to application. We encourage submissions focusing on:

• relevant microbial components (e.g. fungi, bacteria, archaea ) or microbiota such as eukaryotic algae
• metabolic engineering, enzyme optimization, fermentation optimization, biofuels, sensors and manufacturing of bio-based products
• characterization of novel biochemical pathways or enzymatic mechanisms
• new methods, processes and protocol for biotechnological applications
• environmental biotechnology that enables bioremediation (modification, degradation or deactivation of toxicants in the environment or industrial areas)
• microbial interactions with toxicants and the activation of precursors to toxic and harmful compounds including secondary biotransformations
• measuring distribution and abundance and studying the dynamics of community structure for assessing impacted environmental health
• modulation of the effects of pollutants on organisms, their activities and interactions

Authors must clearly specify how their work provides significant conceptual or methodological advances that address the question or problem of interest. Submissions that fail to do so or provide only incremental advancement of knowledge will not be considered for review. Please note that the section does not consider submissions limited to well-established metabolic pathways, descriptive studies such as observational “omics” data alone, explorative studies lacking a hypothesis or application, characterization studies (e.g. of enzymes, organisms), bioinformatic analyses (e.g. genome sequences) without further in vitro validation or extensive comparative analyses, chemical work that excludes a microbial component.

Submission

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