Molecular, Genetic and Genomic Insights into Marine Organisms: From Mechanisms to Ecology

Dear Colleagues,

We invite you to contribute to this Special Issue. Marine organisms exhibit extraordinary physiological and ecological diversity shaped by molecular, genetic, and genomic processes. Rapid advances in high-throughput sequencing, functional genomics, and multi-omics integration now allow researchers to link molecular mechanisms to organismal performance, population connectivity, and ecosystem function. These approaches are essential for understanding adaptive responses to environmental change (e.g., warming, acidification, pollution), resolving cryptic biodiversity, and developing evidence-based conservation and management strategies. By bringing together molecular and ecological perspectives, this Special Issue will highlight how molecular-level insights inform broader questions in marine biology and resource stewardship.

This Special Issue will collect original research and reviews that apply molecular, genetic, and genomic tools to address mechanistic and ecological questions in marine systems. Contributions should integrate molecular data (genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, epigenomics, eDNA) with ecological, evolutionary, or conservation contexts. The Special Issue fits the scope of IJMS by emphasizing molecular-level investigations with clear biological and applied relevance. We seek a cohesive collection (target ≥ 8 papers) covering both methodological advances and case studies that translate molecular knowledge into ecological understanding and management recommendations.

Research areas may include (but not limited to) the following:

• Population genomics, phylogeography, and connectivity of marine species;
• Functional genomics and transcriptomic responses to environmental stressors;
• Epigenetic mechanisms and phenotypic plasticity in marine organisms;
• Molecular bases of symbiosis, host–microbe interactions, and disease ecology;
• Environmental DNA (eDNA), metabarcoding, and molecular monitoring tools;
• Conservation genomics, management units, and genetics-informed restoration;
• Comparative and evolutionary genomics across marine taxa;
• Multi-omics integration and methodological advances for non-model species.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Yaron Tikochinski
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.