Molecular Research and Utilization of Environmental Microbial Resources

Dear Colleagues,

Microorganisms represent one of the most abundant and versatile resources in the natural environment, playing essential roles in ecosystem functioning, nutrient cycling and biochemical processes. Environmental microbial resources, encompassing bacteria, archaea, fungi and microalgae from diverse habitats such as soil, water, plants and extreme environments, hold enormous potential for biotechnological innovation and sustainable applications. Their metabolic diversity enables their use in agriculture, food production, bioenergy, bioremediation and the development of novel bio-based products.

Recent advances in cultivation techniques, high-throughput sequencing, omics technologies and systems biology have greatly expanded our ability to discover, characterize and utilize environmental microbial communities. Beyond community-level insights, molecular research has revealed key microbial resources such as genes, enzymes, metabolites and biosynthetic gene clusters that drive these applications. Examples include nitrogen fixation genes in biofertilizer development, lytic enzymes and antimicrobial peptides for biocontrol, hydrolytic enzymes and lignocellulolytic pathways for bioenergy, as well as novel secondary metabolites with pharmaceutical or agricultural potential. Such findings provide the molecular blueprint for exploiting microbial biodiversity and accelerating translation into practice.

This Special Issue, “Molecular Research and Utilization of Environmental Microbial Resources”, invites original research articles, reviews and perspectives covering all aspects of environmental microbiology on a molecular level related to microbial diversity, functional potential and sustainable applications. Contributions may address microbial resource discovery, functional characterization, ecological roles, molecular mechanisms, biotechnological exploitation and the development of innovative tools to explore and utilize environmental microbiomes.

Prof. Dr. Hikmate Abriouel
Guest Editor

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. International Journal of Molecular Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. There is an Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal. For details about the APC please see here. 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.