Advances on Molecular Microbial Ecology

Dear Colleagues,

This special issue of "Molecular Microbial Ecology" is dedicated to exploring the latest advancements in molecular approaches to understanding the intricate relationships between microbes and their biotic and abiotic environments, with a focus on human and plant microbiomes, environmental and public health, synthetic biology, and rapid detection methods. We invite original research and review articles that contribute to the following areas:

1. Human Microbiome Dynamics: Studies investigating the composition, function, and dynamics of the human microbiome in health and disease, and its influence on host immunity, metabolism, and disease susceptibility.
2. Plant Microbiome Interactions: Research on the plant microbiome, including root-associated, endophytic, and phyllosphere microbiomes, and their roles in plant growth, health, and response to environmental stressors.
3. Environmental Microbiome and Public Health: Contributions examining the role of environmental microbiomes in public health, including microbial indicators of environmental quality, pathogen transmission, and the impact of environmental microbes on human health.
4. Synthetic Biology in Microbial Ecology: Innovative applications of synthetic biology to engineer or enhance microbial ecosystems, including the design of synthetic microbial communities, genetic circuits, and bioproduction systems.
5. Rapid Detection and Diagnostics: Development and evaluation of molecular tools and techniques for the rapid detection and diagnosis of microbial species, including metagenomics, CRISPR-based diagnostics, and biosensor technologies.
6. Microbes and Environmental Sustainability: Research on how microbes contribute to environmental processes such as waste degradation, nutrient cycling, and soil health, and their potential in bioremediation and sustainable agriculture.
7. Cultivation-Independent Methods: Studies employing cultivation-independent approaches to explore uncultured microbial diversity and function, including single-cell genomics and meta-omics techniques.
8. Microbiome-Host Co-evolution: Insights into the co-evolutionary processes between microbes and their hosts, including the role of horizontal gene transfer and the impact on host adaptation and speciation.
9. Microbiome Manipulation for Health and Disease: Strategies for manipulating the microbiome for therapeutic purposes, including probiotics, prebiotics, and fecal microbiota transplantation.
10. Challenges and Opportunities in Microbiome Research: Discussions on the current challenges in microbiome research, such as reproducibility, standardization of methods, and ethical considerations, as well as future opportunities in the field.

Prof. Dr. Nwadiuto Esiobu
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at mdpi.longhoe.net by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

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.

• molecular microbial ecology
• human microbiomes
• plant microbiomes
• environmental microbiome and public health
• synthetic biology
• rapid detection methods