Harnessing Microorganisms from Extreme Habitats for Sustainable Biotechnological Solutions
A special issue of Diversity (ISSN 1424-2818). This special issue belongs to the section "Microbial Diversity and Culture Collections".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 10 December 2026 | Viewed by 117
Special Issue Editors
Interests: microbial biodiversity; secondary metabolites; extreme environments; plant growth; soil fertility; environmental challenges
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: phytoremediation; bioremediation; heavy metals; environmental pollution; restoration; assisted phytoremediation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Extreme environments, including arid deserts, saline soils, hypersaline waters, geothermal springs, polar ecosystems, deep-sea habitats, and polluted ecosystems, host highly diverse and metabolically versatile microorganisms that have evolved unique physiological and metabolic adaptations. These extremophiles and extremotolerant microorganisms represent an invaluable and still underexplored reservoir of novel genes, enzymes, metabolites, and biochemical pathways with high biotechnological potential.
Recent advances in culturomics, metagenomics, genome sequencing, and multi-omics approaches have significantly expanded our understanding of microbial diversity in extreme habitats. These tools have revealed innovative metabolic capabilities such as resistance to desiccation, high salinity, temperature fluctuations, radiation, and toxic compounds. Such adaptations offer promising applications in agriculture (plant growth–promoting microorganisms under abiotic stress), environmental remediation (biodegradation of pollutants, heavy metal bioremediation, microplastic degradation), industrial biotechnology (extremozymes for harsh industrial processes), and pharmaceutical development (novel antimicrobial and bioactive compounds).
This Special Issue aims to gather original research articles and comprehensive reviews addressing the diversity, ecology, functional traits, and biotechnological applications of microorganisms isolated from extreme environments. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Isolation and characterization of extremophilic and extremotolerant microorganisms;
- Functional genomics and multi-omics approaches;
- Plant–microbe interactions in arid, saline, or polluted ecosystems;
- Microbial adaptation mechanisms to abiotic stress;
- Discovery of novel bioactive metabolites and extremozymes;
- Combating antimicrobial resistance;
- Bioremediation and biodegradation processes;
- Sustainable agricultural and environmental applications.
By integrating ecological, molecular, and applied perspectives, this Special Issue seeks to highlight the pivotal role of microbial diversity from extreme environments in advancing sustainable biotechnological innovations.
Dr. Ahmed Nafis
Dr. Anas Raklami
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 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.
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. Diversity 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 2100 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
- extremophiles
- extreme environments
- microbial diversity
- microbial metabolism and stress-adaptation mechanisms
- metagenomics
- extremozymes
- bioactive secondary metabolites
- plant growth-promoting microorganisms (PGPM)
- bioremediation
- sustainable biotechnology
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