About this Research Topic
Diverse local, regional and global strategies have been proposed to be adopted in order to reduce our N footprint, including changes in dietary habits (i.e. demitarian diet), reduce food waste and recycling of waste N, in addition to efforts to a more efficient use of nitrogen on farms. However, many of those strategies seem to forget two main realities: first is that N fertilization is very unequally applied, with excess N fertilizer used at great environmental cost in many (rich) agricultural systems, whereas too little N is used in poorest countries where food security is jeopardized. Second, that diverse microbes (bacteria and fungi) are protagonists in all the main reactions of the Nitrogen biogeochemical cycle and, therefore, microbial biotechnologies can contribute many solutions to the N problem. Processes like nitrification, ammonification and denitrification in soils and waters are mainly carried out by fungi and bacteria, whereas biological nitrogen fixation can be exclusively performed by certain water-, soil-, animal- or plant-associated bacteria that produce the enzyme nitrogenase. Thus, bringing reactive nitrogen back to planet safety boundaries while ensuring sufficient protein to feed a growing human population, must also consider actions to harnessing N-cycle microbes.
This Research Topic focuses on the biotechnology of microbes and microbial processes which directly or indirectly contribute to reduce nitrogen pollution and therefore to alleviate the N problem at local and/or global scales.
Articles to be published in this Topic (original research articles, commentaries, opinion papers, reviews) should contribute to understanding microbial processes within the Nitrogen cycle and to harnessing microbes for nitrogen-sustainable production of food and other goods (i.e. biofuels), as well as for direct alleviation of Nitrogen pollution (i.e. nitrogen recycling).
Articles should investigate or discuss the following issues:
- Novel procedures for production, application and traceability of more efficient Nitrogen Biofertilizers.
- Role of microbial symbioses in the nitrogen cycle.
- Engineering Nitrogen-fixing systems: novel nitrogen-fixing microbes, nitrogen-fixing plants, new nitrogen-fixing symbioses.
- Industrial uses of Nitrogen fixers
- Microbial recycling of reactive Nitrogen
- Denitrification and environmental protection
- Ammonification/Nitrification and environmental protection
- Anammox applications
Keywords: nitrogen oxides, environmental pollution, climate change, sustainable food production
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.