Environmental Pollutants and Their Effects on Host Associated Microbial Communities in Human and Animal Systems

Dear Colleagues,

Host-associated microbial communities, or microbiomes, have emerged as important mediators of health in humans and animals. Evidence suggests that these symbiotic communities are involved in bidirectional communication with hosts to help mediate digestion, immune response, behavior, and many other physiological functions. As exposure to environmental pollutants becomes ubiquitous around the world, questions regarding the impacts of these exposures on these sensitive symbiotic microbiomes have risen to the forefront of microbiome research. Of particular interest are the effects of pollutants on animal microbiomes, as these studies may inform our knowledge of chemical effects on human microbiomes.

This Special Issue welcomes any submissions focusing on the microbiome in human and other animal models to better understand how chemical exposures impact microbiomes and overall health. Studies that examine environmental, occupational, or other exposure scenarios are welcome, as well as any chemical pollutant. Submissions are also not limited to the gastrointestinal microbiomes, as studies on the skin, lung, or oral microbiomes will also be accepted. Studies that use cutting-edge technologies, including shotgun metagenomics and metatranscriptomics are encouraged; however, studies that utilize the sequencing of hypervariable regions will also be accepted. Finally, studies that focus on establishing the microbiome as a predictive tool for monitoring the health impacts of pollutants are also of great interest. Please feel free to contact the guest editors directly for additional information and direction.

Dr. Christopher J. Martyniuk
Dr. Joseph H. Bisesi Jr
Dr. Ondrej Adamovsky
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-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Toxics 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 2600 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.