About this Research Topic
Anaerobic digestion is an established process for the stabilization of organic matter and production of renewable energy that can be used for direct heating and power generation. It has been steadily gaining momentum in the last decades due to its central role in sustainable development and circular economy. Anaerobic digestion is currently being used worldwide for fuel generation and the production of a stabilized fertilizer from livestock manures and crop residues. It is also an essential element for achieving energy-neutral wastewater treatment. High rate anaerobic technologies can be applied to treat wastewater from virtually any industrial process, and novel strategies open avenues for obtaining products of biotechnological interest.
The anaerobic digestion process is driven by a complex network of specialized microbial guilds in the Bacteria and Archaea domains. Extensive research efforts have been dedicated to establishing links between the abundance and diversity of the microbial communities of anaerobic reactors and process performance. High‐throughput sequencing technologies have been used to characterize the composition of the anaerobic digestion microbiome, its basic functions and their influence on efficiency and stability of the process. Integration of multi-omic techniques and continuous advancements in computational biology are improving our ability to fully understand the functional importance of specific organisms and to elucidate complex interactions between metabolic pathways, including microbial syntrophy. This knowledge is needed to more effectively address the challenges of process optimization and improving stability in response to organic overload, but also for an efficient production of alternative energy carriers, such as hydrogen, and the synthesis of valuable end-products with industrial application, such as organic acids.
This trending topic welcomes Original Research, Perspectives, and Reviews focused on (but not limited to):
• Microbial syntrophy in anaerobic digestion
• Metagenomics, metatranscriptomics and metabolomics approaches for disentangling the functional roles of microorganisms in anaerobic digestion
• Dynamics of anaerobic digestion microbiome
• Systems biology approaches in anaerobic microbiome research
• Inoculum selection and operational stability and efficiency
• Anaerobic digestion for the production of organic acids and other valuable end-products
• Microbiome adaptation to co-digestion
• Microbiome of hydrogen producing reactors
• Role of microbiome in anaerobic sludge granulation
• Biogas upgrade via hydrogenotrophic methanogens
• Bacteriophages in anaerobic digesters and reactors
• Engineering synthetic consortia for anaerobic digestion
In order to be considered for peer-review, manuscripts should be hypothesis-driven, examining underlying mechanism of anaerobic, microbiome-driven digestion.
The anaerobic digestion process is driven by a complex network of specialized microbial guilds in the Bacteria and Archaea domains. Extensive research efforts have been dedicated to establishing links between the abundance and diversity of the microbial communities of anaerobic reactors and process performance. High‐throughput sequencing technologies have been used to characterize the composition of the anaerobic digestion microbiome, its basic functions and their influence on efficiency and stability of the process. Integration of multi-omic techniques and continuous advancements in computational biology are improving our ability to fully understand the functional importance of specific organisms and to elucidate complex interactions between metabolic pathways, including microbial syntrophy. This knowledge is needed to more effectively address the challenges of process optimization and improving stability in response to organic overload, but also for an efficient production of alternative energy carriers, such as hydrogen, and the synthesis of valuable end-products with industrial application, such as organic acids.
This trending topic welcomes Original Research, Perspectives, and Reviews focused on (but not limited to):
• Microbial syntrophy in anaerobic digestion
• Metagenomics, metatranscriptomics and metabolomics approaches for disentangling the functional roles of microorganisms in anaerobic digestion
• Dynamics of anaerobic digestion microbiome
• Systems biology approaches in anaerobic microbiome research
• Inoculum selection and operational stability and efficiency
• Anaerobic digestion for the production of organic acids and other valuable end-products
• Microbiome adaptation to co-digestion
• Microbiome of hydrogen producing reactors
• Role of microbiome in anaerobic sludge granulation
• Biogas upgrade via hydrogenotrophic methanogens
• Bacteriophages in anaerobic digesters and reactors
• Engineering synthetic consortia for anaerobic digestion
In order to be considered for peer-review, manuscripts should be hypothesis-driven, examining underlying mechanism of anaerobic, microbiome-driven digestion.
Keywords: anaerobic digestion, syntrophy, genomic-centric metagenomics, meta-omics, microbiome
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.
