Bacterial Molecular Biology: Stress Responses and Adaptation

A special issue of Bacteria (ISSN 2674-1334).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 November 2025 | Viewed by 371

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Microbiology and Parasitology Department, Pharmacy Faculty, Complutense University of Madrid, Plaza Ramón y Cajal s/n, 28040 Madrid, Spain
Interests: molecular microbiology; thermophiles; horizontal gene transfer; NGS; clinical isolates; multi-resistant; C. albicans; commensalism

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Guest Editor
Microbiology and Parasitology Department, Pharmacy Faculty, Complutense University of Madrid, Plaza Ramón y Cajal s/n, 28040 Madrid, Spain
Interests: molecular microbiology; pathogenesis; heterogeneity; evolution; multi-resistant; C. albicans; C. elegans; Vibrio; Salmonella

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Guest Editor
Centro de Astrobiología (CAB), CSIC-INTA, Carretera de Ajalvir km4, 28850 Torrejón de Ardoz, Madrid, Spain
Interests: extremophiles; metagenomics; NGS; molecular microbiology; microfluidics; protein engineering; biomaterials

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Bacteria thrive in a plethora of diverse environments by employing highly sophisticated molecular mechanisms to sense, respond to, and adapt to plenty of sources of stress. From oxidative stress and nutrient deprivation to antimicrobial exposure and extreme environmental conditions, bacteria exhibit remarkable versatility and resilience, leading to a wide repertoire of tolerance and adaptation strategies. Recent publications on novel regulatory networks coordinating previously unknown pathways to mitigate damage and promote survival have enlightened the key role of bacteria in the ongoing changing habitats due to climate change and increasing infections, among others.

This Special Issue delves into the dynamic interplay of genetic regulation, biochemical pathways, and cellular adaptations that underpin bacterial stress responses. Advances in molecular biology, genomics, and proteomics are uncovering novel mechanisms of adaptation, including biofilm formation, horizontal gene transfer, and phenotypic plasticity. By exploring these processes, we aim to deepen our understanding of bacterial survival strategies, which hold critical implications for biotechnology, medicine, and environmental sustainability. This Special Issue invites cutting-edge research and reviews to unravel the molecular intricacies of bacterial stress responses, fostering new insights into their ecological and clinical significance.

Dr. Alba Blesa
Dr. Lucía García Pastor
Dr. Mercedes Sánchez-Costa
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com 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. Bacteria is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly 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 1000 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.

Keywords

  • bacterial stress response
  • adaptation
  • antimicrobial resistance
  • virulence
  • microbial persistence
  • extremophiles
  • environmental signalling
  • phenotypic plasticity
  • HGT
  • regulation networks

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Review

11 pages, 2812 KiB  
Review
Extended-Spectrum Beta-Lactamases (ESBLs) Gene Mutations in Kuwait: How Much Do We Know? Not Much!
by Ali A. Dashti and Mehrez M. Jadaon
Bacteria 2025, 4(2), 22; https://doi.org/10.3390/bacteria4020022 - 30 Apr 2025
Viewed by 82
Abstract
Antibiotic resistance is a major problem worldwide, especially with the overuse and misuse of antibiotics. This makes it more challenging to treat patients infected with antibiotic-resistant bacteria, with more costs on the health system. This review article describes extended-spectrum β-lactam antibiotics as the [...] Read more.
Antibiotic resistance is a major problem worldwide, especially with the overuse and misuse of antibiotics. This makes it more challenging to treat patients infected with antibiotic-resistant bacteria, with more costs on the health system. This review article describes extended-spectrum β-lactam antibiotics as the most used antibacterial agents, and how bacteria developed beta-lactamases (ESBLs) to resist these antibiotics. The review focuses more on the problem of ESBLs in Kuwait to uncover which ESBLs are present and what ESBL gene mutations have been found in this country. The literature review, surprisingly, revealed a limited number of studies in Kuwait on ESBL gene mutations, published over the last 25 years. The results showed that Kuwait has an alarming number of bacterial strains with ESBL gene mutations. These studies reported different mutations in different bacterial strains isolated from different types of specimens, which were collected from different hospitals in Kuwait. The data from these studies were scattered and not linked or analysed together to highlight the big picture of the problem of ESBLs in Kuwait. This review article highlights that the amount of research on ESBLs in Kuwait is not up to the expectations of a country like Kuwait, which has high-standard research facilities. Bearing in mind that the geographic area of Kuwait is relatively small, the authors of this paper think that there might be more β-lactam bacteria spreading in Kuwait, which need to be explored, and that more research and more collaboration are needed among researchers in Kuwait to address this risky situation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Bacterial Molecular Biology: Stress Responses and Adaptation)
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