Topic: Diversity, Genetics and Evolution of Microbial Communities

High-throughput sequencing and integrative multi-omics approaches have contributed to advancing our knowledge of the diversity and assembly of microbial communities, their evolution, and the mechanism of interaction with host and ecosystem. Strategies such as metabolic competition, cooperation, and syntrophic relationships play a vital role in establishing interactions between multi-species ecological networks, and also shaping the composition and functionality of the whole community. Microorganisms acquire and lose genes quite dynamically, and this constant flow of genetic material represents an important source of genetic variation and evolution. The interaction between bacteria, phages, plasmids, and mobile genetic elements influences fitness, survival, cooperation, and symbiosis between microbes, with genetic variations being responsible for novel emerging functions. Combined genomic and functional approaches have been revealed to be instrumental in elucidating relationships between genomic and phenotypic diversity, and mechanistic insights into their effect at a community and sub-community level remain an area deserving of further exploration. This Special Issue aims to gather the latest advances in the application of genomic and functional investigations in the study and characterization of microbial communities, the diversity of their members, and their cross-interactions. Researchers are invited to submit research or review articles showing the application of computational predictive methods and functional genomics for the study of bacterial and virome communities, their interplay, evolution, and characterization of new molecular pathways.

30 Sep 2023