Microbial Diversity and Culture Collections

Environmental threats such as chemical pollution, overexploitation of forests, and urban growth still continue. In addition, with the defrosting of the permafrost, microbial diversity and ecosystems are also changing. Rising sea levels in the Pacific and Oceania are also altering the microbial existence and microorganisms’ functions. In view of the pressures of climate change, questions on how microbial diversity might be affected are timely and persistent. Predictions regarding the loss of microbial diversity are difficult to make, as the evidence and data on the true existence of microorganisms at different niches are patchy. If microorganisms cannot adapt to new environmental conditions, they will be replaced with ones that can. Microorganisms that cannot alter their metabolisms are susceptible to habitat disturbances. The impact of geographical, environmental, geological and climate changes on microflora can only be understood with continuous surveys using modern molecular tools, as well as by culturing the key representatives of microbial diversity and preserving them in culture collections, which play a key role in the preservation of new representatives from these changing ecosystems. 

In this section of the journal, we invite researchers to contribute papers containing a microbial diversity including metagenome analysis of different microbial niches, leading to the selective culturing of key functional taxa and their long-term preservation in culture collections to fill the gaps in knowledge regarding the true compositions and functional diversity of microorganisms in natural environments. This information can also aid policymakers, with particular reference to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), for a timely milestone delivery of the targeted outcomes.