About this Research Topic
All organisms, Eukaryotes and Prokaryotes, require energy to stay alive. Microbial Bioenergetics is the branch of biochemical disciplines that explores how microorganisms capture energy, transduce it, use it or store it in various chemical or electrochemical forms. That is, the purpose of Microbial Bioenergetics is to describe how microorganisms in general are able to use the energy associated with sunlight, or the energy of organic and/or inorganic substances, to perform biological work necessary to life itself. These processes of energy capture and transformation can take place in aerobic, anaerobic, dark, or light conditions, at atmospheric pressure and temperature of 25 ° C, but also in extreme conditions of temperature, pressure, pH, salinity, and electrochemical activity of water, and this is one of the aspects that most characterizes Microbial Bioenergetics compared to the more "orthodox" one in Eukaryotes.
The goal of this Research Topic is to provide an innovative picture, not necessarily exhaustive but as broad as possible, of the bioenergetic mechanisms adopted by various bacterial species to grow and thrive in the most diverse environmental conditions. The contributions to this Topic may result from research on planktonic cell cultures but also on microbial consortia such as biofilms where exogenous short- or long-range electron transport take place, e.g. nanowires or cable bacteria.
The scope of the Research Topic will focus on advances in structural, functional and molecular biology of energy transducing systems in bacteria. Reviews and Original Research articles are welcomed. Content covering the following areas are welcome but are not limited to:
- electronic transport in bacterial membranes in photosynthetic and non-photosynthetic microorganisms, both in aerobic and anaerobic conditions including electron transfer processes towards external acceptors;
- short- and long-range electron transfer in bacterial communities (nanowires and cable bacteria);
- mechanisms of use of the electrochemical energy coupled to the transport of organic and/or inorganic molecules as well as to cell movement;
- molecular organization, synthesis and assembling of membrane redox complexes;
- mechanisms of biogas generation such as CH4 and H2 as end products in both mesophilic and extremophilic organisms;
- evolution of energy transducing systems in bacteria
The goal of this Research Topic is to provide an innovative picture, not necessarily exhaustive but as broad as possible, of the bioenergetic mechanisms adopted by various bacterial species to grow and thrive in the most diverse environmental conditions. The contributions to this Topic may result from research on planktonic cell cultures but also on microbial consortia such as biofilms where exogenous short- or long-range electron transport take place, e.g. nanowires or cable bacteria.
The scope of the Research Topic will focus on advances in structural, functional and molecular biology of energy transducing systems in bacteria. Reviews and Original Research articles are welcomed. Content covering the following areas are welcome but are not limited to:
- electronic transport in bacterial membranes in photosynthetic and non-photosynthetic microorganisms, both in aerobic and anaerobic conditions including electron transfer processes towards external acceptors;
- short- and long-range electron transfer in bacterial communities (nanowires and cable bacteria);
- mechanisms of use of the electrochemical energy coupled to the transport of organic and/or inorganic molecules as well as to cell movement;
- molecular organization, synthesis and assembling of membrane redox complexes;
- mechanisms of biogas generation such as CH4 and H2 as end products in both mesophilic and extremophilic organisms;
- evolution of energy transducing systems in bacteria
Keywords: Bacteria, Phosynthesis, Respiration, Electron transport, Membrane redox complexes, Ion transport
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.
