Extremophiles in Lignocellulose Degradation

Microorganisms of extreme environments or extremophiles are likely to be very adapted toward biotechnological applications because of the intense conditions they naturally grow in. Biocatalysis systems to be developed at large scale production require stable enzymes or extremozymes that resists to harsh industrial conditions. This article collection will provide the most recent research contributions that encompass isolation of culturable extremophiles such as psychrophilic alkaliphilic, acidophilic, and halophilic microorganisms, growth, and maintenance of these organisms and bioinformatic tools for surveying metagenomic data of unculturable extremophiles. Other investigations will also be showing progress of enzyme annotation, function prediction and how this is mostly useful in boosting enzyme overproduction by targeting the appropriate genes throughout metabolic engineering.

Modern recent molecular biology methods, metabolic engineering, bioinformatics, and computer modelling are applied by many research groups for the purpose of implementing new lignocellulose degrading-enzymes originating from extremophiles. These enzymes are required to be stable activities at several extremes simultaneously. The papers given in this contribution should demonstrate the role of extremophiles in lignocellulose degradation, and their study from the lab bench until moving forward to the future biotechnological applications. This will highlight the discovery of new extremozymes as well as enabling drawing conclusions for further improvements that need to be implemented for a better planning screening and tackling strategies to design more desired and powerful enzymes.

This Research Topic demonstrates the incredible adaptability of extremophiles in lignocellulose degradation, and how their extreme conditions is an ideal environment in enzymology. In fact, they are the best candidates for producing extremozymes, researchers however must be keeping in mind the commitment to the sustainable development goals. This is intended for Extreme Microbiology section and emphases on recent reports (including e.g. original research, systematic review, review, methods, mini review, perspective, opinion, and editorial papers) that explore and consider:

• Efficient screening of extremozymes for successful commercialization
• Cost-efficient biocatalysis implemented processes
• New enzyme classes emerging from extremophiles
• Systematics of culturable and non-culturable lignocellulose-degrading extremophiles
• Existing commercialized extremozymes, advantages and limitations
• Challenges in providing sustainable and ecofriendly extremozymes-based processes