Metals in Microbiology
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Metals in Microbiology
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![Metals and Microbiology Collection](/upload/metalscollection.jpg)
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