Coping with the Environment: How Microbes Survive Environmental Challenges
1Institute of Microbiology and College of Life Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310058, China
2Department of Biology, The University of Texas, San Antonio, TX 78249, USA
3Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA
Coping with the Environment: How Microbes Survive Environmental Challenges
Description
Microorganisms are exposed to constantly changing environments in their natural habitats in either planktonic form or microbial communities. Examples of these environmental changes encompass nutrient limitation, temperature change, and presence of harmful agents such as excessive amount of salt or heavy metals. Investigation of the mechanisms and strategies employed by microbes to survive these challenges could improve our understanding of microbial physiology and potentially lead to discoveries of practical value in the field of health care and environment protection.
We invite authors to submit original research and review articles that seek to define the mechanisms by which microbes cope with environment changes. Note that microbial responses to antimicrobial agents have received extensive attention and thus would not be the focus of this issue. We aim to highlight environmental challenges with physiological relevance. Potential topics include, but are not limited to:
- Characterization of molecular components involved in stress responses and adaptation
- Signal transducing systems triggered by environmental cues
- Understanding of microbial stress responses at genomic, proteomic, and metabolomic levels
- Microbial metabolism on uncommon substrates, such as metals
- Stress responses of microbial communities
- Effect of environmental challenges on microbial diversity
Before submission authors should carefully read over the journal's Author Guidelines, which are located at http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijmb/guidelines/. Prospective authors should submit an electronic copy of their complete manuscript through the journal Manuscript Tracking System at http://mts.hindawi.com/ according to the following timetable: