Microbial ecology is rapidly advancing our understanding of how microorganisms and microbiomes respond to extreme environmental stresses such as radiation, desiccation, and microgravity. These conditions impose significant challenges to genome stability, cellular functions, and metabolic homeostasis. While substantial progress has been made in deciphering resistance mechanisms to individual stressors, there remains a lack of knowledge regarding how these responses intersect, co-regulate, and manifest beyond the level of single cells. Current evidence suggests that survival in such environments often arises not just from the intrinsic properties of individual microbes, but from population-level heterogeneity, spatial organization, and interactions within microbiomes. Furthermore, most research to date has relied on short-term or simplified experimental systems, which do not fully capture the complexity and variability of natural, engineered, or space-associated environments. Integrative studies connecting molecular mechanisms to ecological and evolutionary dynamics—including those operating at the microbiome level—are essential to deepen our knowledge of microbial resilience.

This Research Topic aims to develop a mechanistic and systems-level understanding of microbial and microbiome tolerance to radiation, desiccation, and microgravity, bridging insights across molecular, cellular, and community scales. We seek contributions We seek contributions that unravel how stress-response pathways are coordinated and maintained over extended exposures—whether within individual model organisms or across complex microbial consortia. Of particular interest are studies linking intracellular processes to emergent properties at the microbiome and community levels—such as resilience, functional redundancy, and cooperative strategies—and highlighting microbiome-based experimental designs, analytical frameworks, and model systems that reflect ecological complexity and evolutionary change. By integrating perspectives from microbial physiology, community ecology, systems biology, biotechnology, and astrobiology, this Research Topic intends to identify core principles and outstanding challenges for future research on microbial resilience in extreme and space-relevant contexts.

This Research Topic is focused on microbial and microbiome tolerance to radiation, desiccation, and microgravity across multiple biological organization levels. While we welcome studies investigating the mechanisms of individual organisms, submissions should ideally discuss or address the implications of these findings within a broader microbiome or ecological context (e.g., community dynamics, functional profiling, or evolutionary resilience) to align with the mission of Frontiers in Microbiomes.
To gather further insights in these areas, we welcome articles addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:

- Coordination and regulation of microbiome and microbial stress-response pathways in individual microbes and multi-species microbiomes;
- Microbiome-based investigations of DNA repair and genome protection, from single species models to community-wide populations;
- Metabolic and physiological adaptations of microbes and their interactions within larger ecosystems;
- Dormancy, sporulation, and extracellular protective strategies employed by individuals or shared across communities;
- Interactions, emergent resilience, and adaptive processes in microbial communities and microbiomes;
- Microbiome functional and taxonomic profiling under single, combined, or sequential stressors;
- Translational applications relevant to biotechnology, astrobiology, or environmental and space missions involving microbial communities and microbiomes.

Manuscripts employing experimental or computational approaches—including original research, short communications, methodological advances, and perspectives—are all welcome, provided they incorporate a microbiome component to ensure relevance for the journal and its audience.

Are you interested in contributing a manuscript to this Research Topic?

Radiation, Desiccation, and Microgravity Tolerance in Microbes: Mechanisms, Microbiome approaches, and Community Resilience