About this Research Topic

Background

Soil microorganisms play central roles in soil fertility, soil health, and maintenance of the overall desirable quality of the soil. Thus, unraveling and understanding the composition of soil communities or the microbiota as represented by the bacterial, fungal, and viral populations as well as other microscopic life forms including algae, protozoans, and worms has been a long-standing interest to soil scientists, ecologists, and agriculturists. In the age of genomics, focusing on the microbiome or the collective genes of the microorganisms in the community and their diverse functionalities and unity has become a riveting calling for deeper insight into ecological functions.

Industrialization and anthropogenic practices drive changes in microbial community functions and have altered them far beyond imaginable levels, because of the inundation of the environment with nutrients, pollutants, and antimicrobials. Apart from inducing and driving changes in the soil community in favor of phylotypes able to tolerate or resist these stressors, unmitigated pollution also imposes selective pressure that potentiates mutation and the acquisition of novel gene suites via horizontal gene transfer and recombination. As a result, the capacity to degrade diverse classes of hydrocarbons and the co-selection of antibiotic and heavy metal resistance genes is widespread since the majority of recently acquired genes are carried on mobile genetic elements and placed under a shared regulatory element. Most soil microbiome studies often monitor the impacts of a single stressor on soil microbial community structure and functions using one of the omic approaches. While this is desirable, it belies the nature of the soil environments as they are often inundated by many stressors, which contribute largely to the structure, diversity, and metabolic profile of the soil microbiome. The use of multi-omics approaches combined with analytical methods will provide unprecedented insights into the impacts of diverse environmental stressors in modulating community structure and functions of soil microbiomes.

This special issue proposes to explore current trends in multi-omics approach to understanding the soil microbiome and the impacts of environmental stressors in shaping its structure and functions. we welcome submission of manuscripts in the form of reviews and original research in the following thematic areas:

1. Current bioinformatics resources available for use in soil Omics.

2. Response of rhizospheric bacteria to heavy metals pollution and impact on plant growth-promoting factors.

3. Role of bacteria in phytoremediation of hydrocarbon-contaminated soils.

4. Monitoring of hydrocarbon degradation in soil via detection of marker genes, degradation genes, metabolites, and mapping of degradation pathways.

5. Modeling the diversity and spread of heavy metals and antibiotic resistance in soils via the multi- Omics approach.

6. Role of mobile genetic elements in the evolution of antimicrobial resistance gene suites.

7. Contextual understanding of the correlation and dissonance between the abundance of antibiotic resistance genes and risk levels using the Omics approach.

8. How pollution potentiates the evolution of microbial strains that could be used as bioresources for the reclamation of contaminated soil matrices.

9. Manure and pesticides application in agricultural farms accentuate proliferation of antibiotic and heavy metal resistance genes in soils.

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Classification
• Clinical Trial
• Data Report
• Editorial
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• ... View all formats

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Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Classification
• Clinical Trial
• Data Report
• Editorial
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Review
• Systematic Review
• Technology and Code

Keywords: soil microbiomes, antibiotics, heavy metals, hydrocarbons, multi-omics

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