Year: 2023
Type: editorial
Abstract: This collection was initiated to highlight work by young authors, the rising stars in the field of 11 microbial physiology and metabolism. Microbial physiology and metabolism is an interdisciplinary 12 field of research that seeks to uncover how the metabolic pathways of a cell work together to 13 determine cell fate and function, whether that be growth, replication, pathogenicity, predation, 14 respiration and fermentation, homeostasis or death. Ultimately, researchers like the ones featured 15 here seek to integrate biological information and physicochemical parameters to try to find the 16 underlying rules governing microbial function so that we can understand, predict and design 17 microbes and microbial communities to improve society. 18The study of microbial physiology and metabolism is also essential to understanding microbial 19 function across scales, from sub-cellular information to the molecular level, to community and global 20 ecological scales over time. Across all these levels, cells must conserve energy as individuals and as 21 communities, doing so through competitive and cooperative relationships with each other, viruses, 22 and their hosts. Microbial physiology and metabolism is at the heart of all these interactions, and can 23 help to answer questions like: Why are certain microbes pathogens while their close relatives are not? 24How can we 'encourage' microbes to reliably produce food and fuels? And even, could microbes 25 survive in outer space? 26The authors featured in this special issue are initiating their independent careers and training the next 27 generation of microbial physiology and metabolism researchers. In "Phage-resistant Pseudomonas 28 aeruginosa against a novel lytic phage JJ01 exhibits hypersensitivity to colistin and 29 reduces biofilm production", Wannasrichan and colleagues isolated, characterized and sequenced a 30 novel Pseudomonas aeruginosa Pbunavirus phage JJ01. desirable traits between industrially useful microorganisms. 4 They showed that pTTS12 transmission 59 from P. putida S12 to P. putida KT2440 simultaneously transferred the ability to produce indole, 60 resistance to heavy metals, and tolerance to the solvent toluene. Despite these benefits, pTTS12 was 61 found to be unstable in KT2440 due to an unknown metabolic burden. Future work is needed to 62 identify barriers to maintaining pTTS12 in other industrially useful P. putida strains. 63 64The investigators and their teams featured in this special issue continue the tradition of linking 65 theoretical, computational, and experimental evidence together to understand how microbes evolve 66 and adapt to growing under a wide variety of conditions, and we look forward to seeing the 67 contributions of these researchers in coming years. 68 2
Source: Frontiers in Microbiology
Authors: Nicole R. Buan, Ulrike Kappler
Institutions: University of Nebraska–Lincoln, The University of Queensland
Language: English
Subfield: Genetics
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $3,295
OpenAlex ID: W4384694946