About this Research Topic

Background

Please note that Systems Microbiology does not consider descriptive studies that are solely based on amplicon (e.g., 16S rRNA) profiles, unless they are accompanied by a clear hypothesis and experimentation, and provide insight into the microbiological system or process being studied.

Microorganisms comprise an integral component of our ecosystem and are closely associated with human lives. Found in diverse niches, microbes can adapt and thrive in challenging climatic fluctuations and environments. A recent panel of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) Science Summit contemplated: “understanding the world of microbes is imperative either to curb dangerous effects or to harness their power for healthier life, for sustainable energy sources, for biodiversity, for tackling climate change and for solving hunger problems”, one of the key objectives of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The microbes present in the environment significantly impact human lives, with beneficial microbes increasingly being explored for potential applications in agriculture, environmental subsistence, and healthcare. Subsequently, the UN SDGs directly or indirectly connect with microbial sciences and aim to promote health and well-being, hunger elimination, clean water and sanitation, industry, innovation, and infrastructure, among other goals.

While microbes are integral in producing food and other high-value food ingredients, including pigments, enzymes, and food flavors, they are also vital in improving crop yield in agriculture. In response to global food demand, the beneficial implications of microbes in agriculture need to be promoted via the use of microbial inoculants as biofertilizers (and less fertilizer usage), soil carbon restoration, and genetic manipulation of microbes to minimize the adverse impact of chemicals used in agriculture. Another concern is the rising emergence of infectious diseases combined with the availability of fewer drugs. While many drugs, including anticancer drugs and antibiotics, are microbe derived, the present decade has witnessed the substantial achievements of microbes as biofactories for novel drugs and proteins via recombinant DNA technologies. Recent research has also highlighted the importance of gut microbes in digesting food components and vitamin production for human health. Additionally, microbe-assisted remediation of contaminated water has been successful in improving water quality and sanitation. Furthermore, microbes assist in biofuel production and act as a direct source of clean and affordable energy, produce substances and metabolites of high industrial importance, bioremediate environmental hazards and plastics, and enhance plant productivity and stress tolerance. In summary, omics-mediated microbial research has been fundamental in developing applied biotechnologies across food security, agriculture, human health, and environmental bioremediation processes.

This Research Topic aims to attract pertinent, cutting-edge studies focused on deciphering and highlighting the potential of beneficial microbes in multiple areas of socio-economic relevance. We welcome the submission of Original Research, Methods, Reviews, Mini-Reviews, Perspectives, and Opinion articles across the scope of beneficial microbes for human and environmental health, including emerging trends, translational achievements, knowledge gaps, and biotechnologies aimed to address current challenges.

This Research Topic particularly welcomes articles on the following, but not limited to, subthemes:

1.) Emerging trends and advances in microbial application and prospects in a socio-economic context.

2.) Applications of microbes in agriculture for plant growth, protection, and biotic/abiotic stress tolerance.

3.) Industrial production of high-value substances from microbial sources.

4.) Beneficial microbes in healthcare.

5.) Microbes as a source of clean and affordable energy- initiatives in biofuel production.

6.) Environmental bioremediation and subsistence employing microbial strains.

7.) Advances in omics-assisted microbial biotechnologies in the environment and agriculture.

8.) Generation of high-yielding microbial strains via synthetic biology approaches.

Keywords: Agriculture, Antibiotics, Biotherapeutics, Functional food, Microbe-assisted bioremediation, Synthetic biology

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.

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