Structure, Function, and Applications of Communities of Anaerobic Bacteria and Archaea

Call for Papers

Methane is one of the most abundant organic compounds on Earth. Methanogenic archaea, living in close association with other anaerobic microorganisms, release about 1 billion of tons of methane to the biosphere every year. Communities of anaerobic bacteria and archaea play an important role in both methane formation from organic matter and methane oxidation coupled to sulfate reduction. Physical and metabolic interactions between the two groups of microorganisms are important for both methanogenesis and methanotrophy in natural and engineered anaerobic environments. Methane is a renewable energy source and is a greenhouse gas as well. Both features are of great environmental and societal importance.

We invite investigators to contribute original research articles as well as review articles that address different aspects of methanogenic and methanotrophic environments. Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

• Molecular ecology and distribution––novel interactions: what are the niches? what are the phylotypes?
• Physiology, biochemistry, and genomics: what are the mechanisms of mutualistic and competitive interactions?
• Kinetic features of metabolic interactions: what determines the rates and how can they be influenced?
• Applied and engineering aspects: novel applications of pathways and design and operation of anaerobic bioreactors and the role of methanogenic consortia in bioremediation of contaminated environments

Before submission authors should carefully read over the journal's Author Guidelines, which are located at http://www.hindawi.com/journals/arch/guidelines/. Prospective authors should submit an electronic copy of their complete manuscript through the journal Manuscript Tracking System at http://mts.hindawi.com/submit/journals/arch/caba/ according to the following timetable:

Lead Guest Editor

• Madalena Alves, University of Minho, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal

Guest Editors

• Alfons J. M. Stams, Wageningen University, 6708 LX Wageningen, The Netherlands
• Largus T. Angenent, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14850-2488, USA
• Michael J. McInerney, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK 73019, USA