Microbes at the Root of Solutions for Anthropocene Challenges

A special issue of Microorganisms (ISSN 2076-2607). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant Microbe Interactions".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 28 February 2025 | Viewed by 2383

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Food, Environmental and Nutritional Sciences (DeFENS), University of Milano, Milan, Italy
Interests: plant-microbe interaction; plant microbiome; bioremediation; beneficial microbes

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Biology, Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II, Naples, Italy
Interests: food microbiology; biotechnology

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We are living in the Anthropocene, the human-dominated era in which anthropogenic activities are dramatically threatening ecosystem biodiversity and natural resource consumption by driving and exacerbating climate warming dynamics. Microorganisms represent an untapped reservoir of functionalities still to be understood. There is an urgent need to improve basic and applied knowledge on the potentialities of the diversity, functionality and dynamics of microbes and microbial assemblages to alleviate the anthropogenic pressure on our planet.

The aim of this Special Issue is to host researchers’ contributions on the exploitation of microbial resources to face Anthropocene-driven issues, including:

  • Improving sustainable agriculture practice (reducing the input of chemical fertilizers, saving irrigation water, and microbiome engineering);
  • Sustaining aquatic and terrestrial ecosystem biodiversity (for pollination, nutrient uptake, weed control, disease suppression, symbiosis, and beneficial interactions);
  • Promoting pollutant clean-up (xenobiotics and new emerging contaminants);
  • Counteracting antibiotic resistance spread;
  • Boosting plant resistance to biotic and abiotic stress;
  • Coping with climate change’s impact on biogeochemical cycles and soil fertility loss.

Dr. Eleonora Rolli
Prof. Dr. Rachele Isticato
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • plant–microbe interactions
  • bioremediation
  • plant–soil feedback
  • holobiont
  • sustainability
  • biodiversity

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

17 pages, 2671 KiB  
Article
Probiotics as an Alternative to Antibiotics: Genomic and Physiological Characterization of Aerobic Spore Formers from the Human Intestine
by Maria Vittoria, Anella Saggese, Rachele Isticato, Loredana Baccigalupi and Ezio Ricca
Microorganisms 2023, 11(8), 1978; https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms11081978 - 31 Jul 2023
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1598
Abstract
A total of thirty-two aerobic spore former strains were isolated from intestinal samples of healthy children and analyzed for their hemolytic and antibiotic-resistant activities. Four strains selected as non-hemolytic and sensitive to all antibiotics recommended as relevant by regulatory agencies were short-listed and [...] Read more.
A total of thirty-two aerobic spore former strains were isolated from intestinal samples of healthy children and analyzed for their hemolytic and antibiotic-resistant activities. Four strains selected as non-hemolytic and sensitive to all antibiotics recommended as relevant by regulatory agencies were short-listed and evaluated for their in silico and in vitro probiotic potentials. The four selected strains were assigned to the Bacillus velezensis (MV4 and MV11), B. subtilis (MV24), and Priestia megaterium (formerly Bacillus megaterium) (MV30) species. A genomic analysis indicated that MV4, MV11, and MV24 contained a homolog of the gene coding for the fibrinolytic enzyme nattokinase while only MV30 encoded a glutamic acid decarboxylase essential to synthesize the neurotransmitter GABA. All four strains contained gene clusters potentially coding for new antimicrobials, showed strong antioxidant activity, formed biofilm, and produced/secreted quorum-sensing peptides able to induce a cytoprotective stress response in a model of human intestinal (HT-29) cells. Altogether, genomic and physiological data indicate that the analyzed strains do not pose safety concerns and have in vitro probiotic potentials allowing us to propose their use as an alternative to antibiotics. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Microbes at the Root of Solutions for Anthropocene Challenges)
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