Recent advances in symbiosis research: integrative approaches

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Editorial

31 August 2016

Editorial: Recent Advances in Symbiosis Research: Integrative Approaches

M. Pilar Francino

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Mónica Medina

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The Pennsylvania State University (PSU)

M Pilar Francino

Fundación para el Fomento de la Investigación Sanitaria y Biomédica de la Comunitat Valenciana (FISABIO)

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Traditionally, symbiosis research has been undertaken by researchers working independently of one another and often focused on a few host-symbiont interactions. New model systems are emerging that will enable us to fill fundamental gaps in symbiosis research and theory, focusing on a broad range of symbiotic interactions ranging from bi-partite microbial consortia to multicellular hosts and their complex microbial communities. We welcome researchers to contribute their work on diverse symbiotic networks since there is a large variety of symbioses with major roles in the proper functioning of terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. This Research Topic will provide a venue for communicating findings across diverse taxonomic groups. A synthesis of recent investigations in symbiosis can impact areas such as agriculture, where a basic understanding of plant-microbe symbiosis will provide foundational information on the increasingly important issue of nitrogen fixation; climate change, where a significant fraction of green house gases are the result of the microbiome in the rumen of herbivores, and where anthropogenic factors are threatening the survival of marine symbiotic ecosystems such as coral reefs; animal and human health, where unbalances in host microbiomes are being increasingly associated with a wide range of diseases; and biotechnology, where process optimization can be achieved through optimization of symbiotic partnerships. Overall, our vision is to produce a volume of works that will help define general principles of symbiosis within a new conceptual framework, in the road to finally establish symbiology as an overdue central discipline of biological science.

Traditionally, symbiosis research has been undertaken by researchers working independently of one another and often focused on a few host-symbiont interactions. New model systems are emerging that will enable us to fill fundamental gaps in symbiosis research and theory, focusing on a broad range of symbiotic interactions ranging from bi-partite microbial consortia to multicellular hosts and their complex microbial communities. We welcome researchers to contribute their work on diverse symbiotic networks since there is a large variety of symbioses with major roles in the proper functioning of terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. This Research Topic will provide a venue for communicating findings across diverse taxonomic groups. A synthesis of recent investigations in symbiosis can impact areas such as agriculture, where a basic understanding of plant-microbe symbiosis will provide foundational information on the increasingly important issue of nitrogen fixation; climate change, where a significant fraction of green house gases are the result of the microbiome in the rumen of herbivores, and where anthropogenic factors are threatening the survival of marine symbiotic ecosystems such as coral reefs; animal and human health, where unbalances in host microbiomes are being increasingly associated with a wide range of diseases; and biotechnology, where process optimization can be achieved through optimization of symbiotic partnerships. Overall, our vision is to produce a volume of works that will help define general principles of symbiosis within a new conceptual framework, in the road to finally establish symbiology as an overdue central discipline of biological science.

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Editors

The Pennsylvania State University (PSU)

M Pilar Francino

Fundación para el Fomento de la Investigación Sanitaria y Biomédica de la Comunitat Valenciana (FISABIO)

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Frontiers in Microbiology

Microbial Symbioses

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Frontiers in Marine Science

Microbial Symbioses

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