Collections
Browse our Collections – bringing together peer-reviewed content from across the Society’s publishing platform on a range of hot topics and subject areas.
21 - 40 of 46 results
-
-
Implications of climate change for terrestrial microbiomes and global cycles
Soil microbiomes are highly diverse ecosystems that play a central role in ecosystem functioning and regulating global biogeochemical cycles. Through these processes, soil microbes make major contributions to the production and consumption of greenhouse gases. They also regulate the availability of essential nutrients, such as nitrogen and phosphorous, thereby influencing plant growth and global primary productivity. As such, soil microbial communities are intimately involved in climate feedback processes.
Predicting the contribution and response of soil microbiomes to future climate change represents a major research challenge. For example, uncertainties remain around the extent to which soils will act as a source or sink of carbon under future climate scenarios. A greater understanding of the microbial molecular pathways involved in biogeochemical cycling will be essential if we are to predict these outcomes. Similarly, further insight is needed into the response of soil microbial communities to climate extremes, such as drought, floods and increasing salinity, so that we can predict and mitigate changes to vital ecosystem services.
The special collection ‘Implications of climate change for terrestrial microbiomes and global cycles’ guest-edited by Drs Michael Macey (Open University), Sarah Worsley (UEA), and Geertje van Keulen (Swansea University), aims to highlight key research investigating the role of soil microbiomes in climate feedback processes, and their response to global change. It will also include articles on the characterisation of biogeochemical cycles and terrestrial microbiomes. We would also like to invite contributions on advances made in affordable and sustainable research methods, e.g. focussing on in situ activities where access to energy and/or data sources may be unreliable or unavailable.
This collection is open for submissions – please submit your article here, stating that your manuscript is part of the ‘Implications of climate change for terrestrial microbiomes and global cycles’ collection.
Image credit: Guido Gerding - external homepage, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
-
-
-
International Coronavirus Networks Collection
US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the UK International Coronavirus Network (UK-ICN) - Biotechnology and Biological Research Council (BBSRC) and the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), the Biosafety Level 4 Zoonotic Laboratory Network (BSL4ZNet), the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) collective bring together findings and lessons learnt for science foresight perspectives on Coronaviruses into our future.
The scope of the collection includes:
What we know: SARS, MERS, HCoVs and COVID-19
Emergence: Animal-human-animal interfaces
ABC: Bringing AIML, Bioinformatics and Coronavirology together
Social Contributions: Impacts of human and animal behaviours
Known Unknowns: Bat betacoronaviruses with Disease X potential
Prevention and Cure: Medical countermeasures (human and veterinary)
-
-
-
JMM Profiles
Journal of Medical Microbiology is now publishing ‘JMM Profiles’ in one of three categories; Pathogen Profile, Antimicrobial Profile and Diagnostic Profile. These articles will provide a brief summary review in each of these areas. The profiles are fully citable and free to read for 30 days after publication, and will make an excellent resource for education or reference.Please see our introductory Editorial for further information.
-
-
-
Marine Microbiology
Covering over 70% of the Earth’s surface, the Oceans represent an incredibly diverse, yet understudied ecosystem. In particular, microorganisms (bacteria, fungi, viruses and archaea) mediate key ecosystem processes in these marine systems and account for a majority of the biodiversity. These resilient microbial species have evolved by partitioning a multitude of environmental resources including variable temperature, ocean currents, light availability, pressure and nutrients. At the same time, the dynamic nature of marine systems allows for complex biotic interactions that aggregate into microbiomes, or microbial communities. Various environmental factors influence biogeographic patterns that allow for distinct community assemblages across marine habitats (e.g., water column vs. sediment).
Ultimately, understanding the relationship between ecological and evolutionary processes and the environment will elucidate the factors driving marine microbial distributions and community structure. In order to understand these complex dynamics, marine microbiology necessitates interdisciplinary science, encompassing fields such as biogeochemistry, oceanography, ecology, geology, chemistry and microbiology. It also represents incredible potential for discovery, with impacts on our ability to manage and utilize the oceans as a sustainable resource.
Guest-edited by Dr. Katherine Duncan and Dr. Alex Chase, this Marine Microbiology special collection aims to highlight key research on marine microorganisms as they underpin the complex processes of our blue planet.
-
-
-
Metals in Microbiology
Metals catalyse almost a half of all microbial reactions and yet can poison microorganisms. Metal handling systems - that maintain metal homeostasis - are thus vital to sustain microbial life. For microbial pathogens, the challenge of metal homeostasis is exacerbated by host immune defences that restrict metal access and that exploit the microbicidal activity of metals. There are opportunities to produce new antimicrobials that subvert microbial metal-handling systems or that use metals directly or combined with other compounds. The prevalence of metalloenzymes also means that engineering the metal-supply in microorganisms is highly relevant to industrial biotechnological processes, with metalloproteins contributing to bioenergy production, bioremediation, biomedicine, synthesis of high value industrial feedstocks and more.
Guest-edited by Dr Jennifer Cavet (University of Manchester) and Dr Karrera Djoko (Durham University), this collection of keynote research articles will highlight research on metal-microbe interactions, bringing together advances in our understanding of how microbes handle metals, the utilization of metals in proteins and the importance of metal handling systems in host-pathogen interactions. It will also include research that exploits these systems in industrial processes, the development of metal-related antimicrobials and in metal bioremediation and biorecovery.
Image credit: Jin Hong
-
-
-
Methods and Software
The Microbial Genomics Methods and Software collection will bring together articles describing novel experimental, bioinformatics, modelling, and statistical approaches to the analysis of microbial genomics data, including databases or the integration of genomics with other data streams; as well as systematic comparisons or benchmarking of existing methodologies used in the field of microbial genomics. Guest-edited by Dr Zamin Iqbal (European Bioinformatics Institute) and Dr Caroline Colijn (Simon Fraser University), the collection aims to provide the microbial genomics community with new and systematically validated tools to advance their research.
The cover image for this collection brings together figures from two of retrospective articles in the collection: a phylogeny richly annotated with insertion sequence sites from the article on ISseeker by Adams et al. 2016 (bottom left); and a genome assembly graph from the article on completing bacterial genomes by Wick et al. 2017 (top right).
This collection is now open for submissions. Submit your article here, stating that your manuscript is part of the Methods and Software collection.
-
-
-
Microbe Profiles
Microbiology is now publishing ‘Microbe Profiles’ – concise, review-type articles that provide overviews of the classification, structure and properties of novel microbes, written by leading microbiologists. These profiles will provide insights into key microbes within the field. The profiles are fully citable and free to read for 30 days after publication, and will make an excellent resource for education or reference.
-
-
-
Microbial Evolution
Microbes are everywhere, living inside and around us, often within complex and dynamic communities that underpin the health of our bodies and of natural ecosystems. The need to understand and predict microbial evolutionary dynamics has never been more urgent. The rise of antimicrobial resistance is a crisis caused by the evolutionary adaptation of microbes to our use of antibiotics. How microbes respond to global change will shape critical biogeochemical processes in oceans and soils. Solutions to these and many other emerging issues will require an in-depth understanding of the evolutionary dynamics of microbial communities, to enable us to predict and manage their responses to selective pressures and to design robust biotechnological solutions. This collection will highlight microbial evolution research papers from the Microbiology archives and feature new primary research and review articles arising from the “Understanding and Predicting Microbial Evolutionary Dynamics” Focus Meeting held in Manchester 22-23 November 2022.
This collection is open for new submissions from all researchers across the full breadth of the microbial evolution field and is guest edited by Michael Brockhurst (University of Manchester, UK), Jenna Gallie (Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology, Germany), James Hall (University of Liverpool, UK), and Stineke Van Houte (University of Exeter, UK).Image credit: Science Photo Library/KuLouKu
-
-
-
Microbial Genomics of Sexually Transmitted Infections
Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) remain a major global public health threat. Often disproportionately impacting specific groups of people, significant morbidity and mortality is caused by common diseases including gonorrhoea, chlamydia, syphilis, HIV infection, Hepatitis B, and disease linked to Human Papilloma Virus. STI Control can be difficult and challenges range from practical obstacles around the distribution of effective antivirals and vaccines to the emergence of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) among bacterial pathogens. Undoubtedly, effective interventions depend upon detailed understanding of the pathogens and whole genome sequencing (WGS) provides a solution to this. With improved access to resources and decreasing sequencing costs, WGS has dramatically changed the research landscape revealing the genetic basis of important phenotypes such as virulence and AMR, underpinning local and national surveillance programs to understand disease epidemiology, emergence and spread, and accelerating vaccine development.Guest-edited by Dr Odile Harrison and Dr Janet Wilson (President of IUSTI) this collection gathers original research articles, reviews and methods that use WGS approaches for the analysis of sexually transmitted pathogens. The goal of this collection is to provide to the community a comprehensive suite of articles that consolidate recent advances made in the field and provide tools for the community for further research.
This collection is now open for submissions in Microbial Genomics. If you’d be interested in being included in the collection, please submit to our peer review system and state that your submission is intended for the ‘Microbial Genomics of Sexually Transmitted Infections’ collection.
Image credit: Odile Harrison
-
-
-
Unlocking the world of microbiomes
In 2020 we celebrate 75 years of the anniversary of our founding with a year of activities dedicated to demonstrating the impact of microbiologists’ past, present and future – bringing together and empowering communities that help shape the future of microbiology. We are launching new collections of digital content throughout the anniversary year. The first digital hub is Unlocking the world of microbiomes: exploring microbial communities, which will examine the microbiome and human health, agriculture and food microbiomes and environmental and industrial microbiomes.
The ‘Unlocking the world of microbiomes’ collection brings together articles from across our journals exploring microbial communities and examining the microbiome and human health. This collection is an update of a collection by the Microbiology Society and the British Society for Immunology launched for World Microbiome Day; the ‘Microbiome’ collection can be viewed on Science Open.
-
-
-
Microreact
Microbial Genomics is partnered with Microreact, a free data visualisation and sharing platform that allows scientists and health professionals worldwide to better collaborate to understand disease outbreaks. The journal encourages authors to upload their data files to Microreact, which can then provide interactive querying of the data via trees, maps, timelines and tables, and will be published in Microbial Genomics via a permanent web link. This collection brings together articles that have data sets generated by this software.
If you would like to see your work included in this collection, please click here for more information, or submit your article here.
-
-
-
Most Downloaded Articles of 2018
We are delighted to present a collection of the Microbiology Society’s most downloaded journal content from January–September 2018. This collection highlights the exciting and impactful research across the breadth of microbiology and is an easy way for you to quickly access the content your peers are reading.
-
-
-
Mycobacteria
Mycobacteria are a vast group of microorganisms characterized by a unique thick, hydrophobic cell wall rich in mycolic acids, which makes them highly resistant to environmental stresses. Even if most of them are innocuous environmental saprophytes, some of them, such as Mycobacterium leprae or Mycobacterium tuberculosis, have evolved to become formidable human pathogens with a very complex and still not well-characterized relationship with their host, while others, such as Mycobacterium avium, represent important emerging or opportunistic pathogens.
Guest-edited by Dr. Riccardo Manganelli, this collection of keynote research articles will highlight all aspects of mycobacterial biology, with particular focus on physiological aspects, such as stress response mechanisms, regulatory networks, and metabolic pathways, that might lead to a better understanding of the intriguing aspects of mycobacterial host-pathogen interaction and lead to the design of new strategies to fight these important pathogens.
-
-
-
New Frontiers in Microbiology
In 2020 we celebrate 75 years of the anniversary of our founding with a year of activities dedicated to demonstrating the impact of microbiologists past, present and future – bringing together and empowering communities that help shape the future of microbiology. We are launching new collections of digital content throughout the anniversary year.
As we have progressed through the 21st century, we have expanded and developed our understanding of how microbes are related to and interact with each other. Microbiology research has been, and continues to be, central to meeting many of the current global aspirations and challenges, such as maintaining food, water and energy security for a healthy population on a habitable earth. The ‘New Frontiers in Microbiology’ collection brings together articles on the ever-growing tree of life and synthetic biology.
-
-
-
Outbreak Reports
This collection highlights Outbreak Reports published in Microbial Genomics. Outbreak reports are short-format articles that investigate the key role that genomics plays in investigating communicable disease outbreaks.
If you would like to see your work included in this collection click here for more information. Microbial Genomics is looking for novel and interesting stories describing unique applications of genomics at any stage of an outbreak.
-
-
-
Pseudomonas
This collection brings together original research articles, mini-reviews, and full-length reviews relating to Pseudomonas. Guest edited by Dr Joanna Goldberg and co-edited by Dr Kalai Mathee, this collection will not only be relevant to scientists with an interest in Pseudomonas, but also, due to the widespread use of this genus as a model for studying multiple systems, it will be of general interest to other researchers active in areas such as evolutionary biology, communication systems, genomics and biofilm research. In addition, because P. aeruginosa is a key pathogen associated with both acute and chronic infections, and particularly important in the context of cystic fibrosis and antimicrobial resistance, the collection will be of interest to clinicians and clinical researchers.
This collection was released in conjunction with Pseudomonas 2019, an international conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Manuscripts submitted to the journal are free to publish. The Microbiology Society offers a Gold Open Access option, please see https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/publishing-costs for further details.
-
-
-
Streptomyces
Over the last century, Streptomyces bacteria – and their metabolic products – have revolutionized modern medicine. These little pharmaceutical factories produce a vast array of natural products that have been co-opted for medical and agricultural therapies. In addition to their metabolic sophistication, Streptomyces also exhibit remarkable developmental and regulatory complexity.
Guest-edited by Dr Marie Elliot, this collection of keynote research articles will highlight fascinating aspects of Streptomyces biology, and the advances that are providing us with newfound insight and appreciation for these extraordinary bacteria.
-
-
-
A Sustainable Future
To highlight the vital role microbiology plays in delivering on the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), we have created a collection of must-read research on three critical aspects of the SDGs: antimicrobial resistance, soil health, and the circular economy.
-
-
-
Symbiosis
Symbiosis has played a key role in the evolution of life on Earth. Symbiotic mergers of once independent species drove the origin of eukaryotes. Moreover, symbiosis has enabled many species to gain novel functions and occupy new ecological niches, thus underpinning the functioning of diverse ecosystems. As endosymbionts, microbes provide their eukaryotic hosts with an array of ecological and physiological innovations, including new metabolic capabilities, such as autotrophy or nitrogen fixation, and protection against infections or environmental stressors. Microbial eukaryotes also commonly host their own endosymbionts, including bacteria and algae. Understanding the stability and resilience of symbioses is key to predicting the response of important ecosystems, such as coral reefs, to global change. Manipulating symbiotic associations also has far-reaching economic, environmental and medical implications, through the potential to improve crop productivity, reduce reliance on fertilisers, and control the insect vectors of infectious diseases.
This collection, guest edited by Professor Michael Brockhurst (University of Manchester) and Dr. Rebecca J Hall (University of Birmingham), will feature microbe-focused studies of symbiosis, ranging from the molecular mechanisms of host-symbiont interactions, their genetic and genomic diversity, to understanding the impacts of symbioses in natural and manmade ecosystems.
-
-
-
Mycobacterium tuberculosis
World Tuberculosis Day on 24 March recognises the date in 1882 when Dr Robert Koch announced his discovery of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacillus that causes tuberculosis (TB). In celebration of this, we are excited to present a collection of recently published papers on M. tuberculosis.
-