About this Research Topic
Early in 2016, we initiated a Research Topic for Frontiers in Molecular Biosciences that we entitled “Modulating Prokaryotic Lifestyle by DNA-Binding Proteins” and managed to attract a total of 24 articles and 114 contributing authors. Articles that dealt with various aspects of prokaryotic gene regulation and the mechanisms of DNA replication and DNA transfer, plasmid segregation, transcriptional and post-transcriptional control of gene expression along with the global regulatory networks in prokaryotes were published under the umbrella of this Research Topic. Much would have happened in the three-year interval since the Research Topic was wrapped up in late 2016. We feel that it is thus timely to revisit this topic but shifting the focus somewhat to prokaryotic communication, so that we can visualize how the field has advanced, what new prospects we shall encounter and what new and exciting avenues are just opening in front of our eyes.
What was stated in our editorial to the Research Topic (see Venkova et al., 2017) remains relevant now in 2019. We are still playing catch-up (and getting no further) with analyzing the massive amounts of sequencing data generated and deposited in public repositories. The regulatory networks of model prokaryotes are still being continuously updated with more of their players and their biological functions being discovered and determined. Antimicrobial resistance is still a major healthcare problem even though there has been progress in our understanding on how some of these acquired resistance genes are spread by horizontal gene transfer. Central to these issues are the molecular recognitions that enable the functionality of prokaryotic DNA-binding proteins and their diverse roles in mediating fundamental cellular processes such as DNA replication and segregation, gene expression, and DNA transfer.
We therefore invite contributions to this new and exciting Research Topic on “Prokaryotic Communications” and welcome papers that will enhance our current understanding of how prokaryotes communicate starting from intra- and inter-molecular communications, to macromolecular cross-talks and moving from cell-to-cell towards cell-to-host communications.
What was stated in our editorial to the Research Topic (see Venkova et al., 2017) remains relevant now in 2019. We are still playing catch-up (and getting no further) with analyzing the massive amounts of sequencing data generated and deposited in public repositories. The regulatory networks of model prokaryotes are still being continuously updated with more of their players and their biological functions being discovered and determined. Antimicrobial resistance is still a major healthcare problem even though there has been progress in our understanding on how some of these acquired resistance genes are spread by horizontal gene transfer. Central to these issues are the molecular recognitions that enable the functionality of prokaryotic DNA-binding proteins and their diverse roles in mediating fundamental cellular processes such as DNA replication and segregation, gene expression, and DNA transfer.
We therefore invite contributions to this new and exciting Research Topic on “Prokaryotic Communications” and welcome papers that will enhance our current understanding of how prokaryotes communicate starting from intra- and inter-molecular communications, to macromolecular cross-talks and moving from cell-to-cell towards cell-to-host communications.
Keywords: Intracellular communication, cell-cell communication, cell-host communication, DNA-binding proteins, prokaryotic gene regulation, macromolecular cross-talk
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
