FEMS Microbiology Letters gives priority to concise papers that merit rapid publication by virtue of their originality, general interest and contribution to new developments in microbiology. All aspects of microbiology, including virology, are covered. 
Impact Factor: 1.994, 2018 Journal Citation Reports (Web of Science Group, 2019)
Ranking: 97/133 (Microbiology)
The journal is divided into eight Sections:
Physiology and Biochemistry (including genetics, molecular biology and ‘omic’ studies)
Food Microbiology (from food production and biotechnology to spoilage and food borne pathogens)
Biotechnology and Synthetic Biology
Pathogens and Pathogenicity (including medical, veterinary, plant and insect pathogens – particularly those relating to food security – with the exception of viruses)
Environmental Microbiology (including ecophysiology, ecogenomics and meta-omic studies)
Virology (viruses infecting any organism, including Bacteria and Archaea)
Taxonomy and Systematics (for publication of novel taxa, taxonomic reclassifications and reviews of a taxonomic nature)
Professional Development (including education, training, CPD, research assessment frameworks, research and publication metrics, best-practice, careers and history of microbiology)
If you are unsure which Section is most appropriate for your manuscript, for example in the case of transdisciplinary studies, we recommend that you contact the Editor-In-Chief by email prior to submission. Our scope includes any type of microorganism - all members of the Bacteria and the Archaea and microbial members of the Eukarya (yeasts, filamentous fungi, microbial algae, protozoa, oomycetes, myxomycetes, etc.) as well as all viruses.
In addition, the journal publishes short Commentaries on topical issues in microbiology. Letters to the Editor are brief communications focusing on an article that has been published in the journal within the previous six months. The journal no longer accepts Genome Announcements, as of 1 January 2015. We publish MiniReviews on current, emerging and 'hot' topics in microbiology and welcome proposals for MiniReviews from experts in their fields. These should be sent to the appropriate Section Editor in the first instance. It is worth noting that MiniReviews that have been discussed with us in advance have a higher rate of acceptance than those that are submitted without prior discussion.

Editor-in-Chief
Rich Boden (Plymouth, UK)

Section Editors


Physiology & Biochemistry – Jana Jass

 


Pathogens & Pathogenicity – Arnoud H. M. van Vliet





Environmental Microbiology – Tim Daniell






Virology – Rich Boden (Acting)

 

 


Food Microbiology – Wolfgang Kneifel


 




Taxonomy & Systematics – Aharon Oren


 




Professional Development – Beatrix Fahnert






Biotechnology & Synthetic Biology – Michael Sauer

 


History of Microbiology Editor
Lesley Robertson (Delft, Netherlands)

Nomenclature Editor
Aharon Oren (Jerusalem, Israel)

Handling Editors
Rustam Aminov (Frederiksberg, Denmark)

Susan Assinder (Liverpool, UK)

Nathan Basiliko (Sudbury, Canada)

Michael J. Bidochka (St. Catherines, ON, Canada)

Hermann Bothe (Koln, Germany)

Laura Bowater (Norwich, UK)

Alejandra Bravo (Mexico City, Mexico)

Matthias Brock (Nottingham, UK)

Sergio Casella (Padova, Italy)

Paul Christakopoulos (Luleå, Sweden)

Anne Cotton (Sheffield, United Kingdom)

Michael Cox (London, UK)

Albert Descoteaux (Laval, QC, Canada)

Akihito Endo (Hokkaido, Japan)

Séamus Fanning (Dublin, Ireland)

Miguel Gueimonde Fernandez (Spain)

Célia Ferreira (Viçosa, Brazil)

Rob P. Gunsalus (Los Angeles, CA, USA)

Klaus Hantke (Tübingen, Germany)

Hermann J. Heipieper (Leipzig, Germany)

Dieter Jahn (Braunschweig, Germany)

Euan James (Dundee, Scotland)

Sophia Johler (Zürich, Switzerland)

Kevin Maringer (Surrey, UK) 

Geertje van Keulen (Swansea, Wales, UK)

Andre Klier (Paris, France)

Jan-Ulrich Kreft (Birmingham, UK)

Károly Márialigeti (Budapest, Hungary)

Andrew Millard (Leicester, UK)

Skorn Mongkolsuk (Bangkok, Thailand)

Marco Moracci (Naples, Italy)

Akio Nakane (Hirosaki, Japan)

Tim Nichol (Sheffield, UK)

Stefan Olsson (Copenhagen, Denmark)

Olga N. Ozoline (Moscow Region, Russian Federation)

Seraphim Papanikolaou (Athens, Greece)

Stefanie Pöggeler (Göttingen, Germany)

Claire Remacle (Liege, Belgium)

Ezio Ricca (Napoli, Italy)

Sylvie Rimsky (Cachan Cedex, France)

Marilyn Roberts (Seattle, WA USA)

Lesley Robertson (Delft, The Netherlands)

Kendra Rumbaugh (Texas, USA)

Lígia Saraiva (Oeiras, Portugal)

Mark Schembri (Brisbane, Australia)

Kathleen Scott (South Florida, Tampa, USA)

Craig Shoemaker (Auburn, AL, USA)

Stefan Sievert (Woods Hole, MA, USA)

Matthias Steiger (Vienna, Austria)

Simon Silver (Chicago, IL, USA)

Alexander Steinbuchel (Münster, Germany)

Andreas Stolz (Stuttgart, Germany)

Marcos André Vannier-Santos (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)

Sandhya S. Visweswariah (Bangalore, India)

Gerard Wall (Galway, Ireland)

Kay Yeoman (Norwich, UK)

Yu-Zhong Zhang (Jinan, China)

Editors and their Specialist fields
Rustam I. Aminov
Technical University of Denmark, Frederiksberg, Denmark. E-mail: rustam.aminov@gmail.com
Bacterial genetics; Antibiotics and antibiotic resistance; Molecular ecology; Phylogeny; Intestinal microbiology; Microbial genetics; Bioinformatics.

Susan Assinder
Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool, UK. E-mail: sue.assinder@lstmed.ac.uk
Effective practice and innovation in learning, teaching and assessment; Quality assurance and enhancement; Promotion of public engagement with science.

Nathan Basiliko
Environmental Microbiology, Living with Lakes Centre, Laurentian University, Sudbury, Canada. E-mail: nbasiliko@laurentian.ca
Forest and wetland soils; Greenhouse gas fluxes; Forestry and ecosystem management; Methane biogeochemistry; Methanogens; Methanotrophs.

Michael J. Bidochka
Department of Biological Sciences, Brock University, St. Catharines, Canada. E-mail: bidochka@brocku.ca
Microbial pathogenicity, especially pathogenic fungi; Microbial population genetics and phylogeography.

Rich Boden
School of Biological & Marine Sciences, Faculty of Science & Environment, and Sustainable Earth Institute, University of Plymouth, Plymouth, UK. E-mail: rich.boden@plymouth.ac.uk
Rich Boden gained his PhD at the University of Warwick, UK and is currently Reader in Microbial Physiology and Taxonomy at the University of Plymouth. His research focuses on microbial transformations of metals, metalloids and sulfur in a range of environments. He also leads research programs on physiology, ecology, biochemistry, taxonomy and environmental process, including soil and freshwater geochemistry.

Hermann Bothe
Botanical Institute, University of Cologne, Köln, Germany. E-mail: hermann.bothe@uni-koeln.de
Plant-microbe interactions, particularly between mycorrhiza and plant growth-promoting bacteria; Metabolism, molecular biology and ecology of cyanobacteria; Molecular microbial ecology, particularly of bacteria involved in the nitrogen cycle.

Laura Bowater
Norwich Medical School, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK. E-mail: laura.bowater@uea.ac.uk
Antibiotic resistance; Medical education; Microbiology education; Science communication; Public engagement; Professional development.

Alejandra Bravo
Departamento Microbiología Molecular, Instituto de Biotecnología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico. E-mail: bravo@ibt.unam.mx  
Molecular biology, genetics, biochemistry and physiology of Gram-positive bacteria especially insect pathogenic bacteria; Bacterial pathogenesis, virulence factors; Regulation of bacterial gene expression; Bacterial differentiation; Sporulation; Protein–protein interactions and Protein-membrane interaction; Microbial biotechnology; Recombinant proteins; Recombinant antibodies.

Matthias Brock
Faculty of Medicine & Health Sciences, Nottingham, UK. E-mail: Matthias.Brock@nottingham.ac.uk
Fungal physiology and biochemistry; Primary metabolism; Fungal virulence determinants; Protein purification; Heterologous protein production.

Sergio Casella
Dipartimento di Biotecnologie Agrarie, Agripolis, Università di Padova, Padova, Italy. E-mail: sergio.casella@unipd.it
Microbial physiology; Microbial biotechnology; Soil microbiology; Plant–bacteria interaction; Nitrogen metabolism.

Paul Christakopoulos
Division of Chemical Engineering, Biochemical Process Engineering, Luleå University of Technology, Sweden. E-mail: paul.christakopoulos@ltu.se
Microbial Biotechnology, Biorefinery, Biofuels, Biocatalysis, Plant biomass degrading enzymes.

Michael Cox
National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London, London, UK. E-mail: michael.cox1@imperial.ac.uk
Microbial ecology; Human microbiome; Respiratory infection; Molecular ecology; Metagenomics; 16S rRNA gene sequencing.

Anne Cotton
Edwards Lab, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK. E-mail: anne.cotton@sheffield.ac.uk
Microbial communities; Soil microbes; Plant-microbe interactions; Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi; Molecular microbial ecology.

Tim Daniell
N8 Agrifood Chair in Soil Microbiology, Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK. E-mail: t.j.daniell@sheffield.ac.uk
Soil microbial ecology; Plant-microbe interactions in the context of nitrification and denitrification processes; Structure and function of arbuscular mycorrhizal symbioses.

Albert Descoteaux
INRS - Institute Armand-Frappier, Laval, QC, Canada. E-mail: albert.descoteaux@iaf.inrs.ca
Leishmania; Host-pathogen interactions; Phagocytosis; Cellular microbiology; Intracellular signaling.

Akihito Endo
Tokyo University of Agriculture, Hokkaido, Japan. E-mail: a3endou@bioindustry.nodai.ac.jp
Lactic acid bacteria; Bifidobacteria; Food fermentation; Taxonomy; Probiotics & prebiotics; Intestinal microbiology.

Beatrix Fahnert
Deputy Head, School of Life Sciences, University of Lincoln, Lincoln, UK. E-mail: bfahnert@lincoln.ac.uk
orcidhttp://orcid.org/0000-0002-1768-6702
Continuous professional development and recognition; Individual and institutional learning and change in higher education; Learning and teaching in the biosciences; Internationalisation; Medical microbiology; Recombinant protein production.

Séamus Fanning
UCD-Centre for Food Safety, School of Public Health, Physiotherapy & Population Science, University College Dublin, UCD Centre for Molecular Innovation & Drug Discovery, Dublin, Ireland. E-mail: sfanning@ucd.ie
Antimicrobial resistance mechanisms associated with food-borne zoonotic pathogens; Role of efflux pumps in MDR; Mobile genetic elements and horizontal gene transfer; Molecular sub-typing bacterial isolate characterization; Pathogenicity markers of food-borne zoonotic/ non-zoonotic bacteria.

Miguel Gueimonde Fernandez
Consejo Superior e Investigaciones Cientificas, Instituto de Productos Lacteos de Asturias, Asturias, Spain. E-mail: mgueimonde@ipla.csic.es
Probiotics, Prebiotics, Intestinal microbiota, Bifidobacterium, Lactobacillus, Dairy products.

Célia Ferreira
Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Viçosa, Brazil. E-mail: clferrei@ufv.br
Selection of new probiotic strains; Development of prebiotic products; Safety of pre and probiotic; Fermented dairy foods; Human milk endogenous cultures; Lactic acid bacteria.

Rob P. Gunsalus
Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, University of California (UCLA), Los Angeles, CA, USA. E-mail: robg@microbio.ucla.edu
Molecular genetics; Microbial physiology; Methanogenesis; Anaerobic cell function; Electron transport; Metabolism.

Klaus Hantke
Mikrobiologie/Membranphysiologie, Universität Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany. E-mail: hantke@uni-tuebingen.de
Bacterial metal transport and regulation, especially iron, manganese and zinc; Functions of outer membrane and periplasmic proteins of gram-negative bacteria; Colicins and microcins; Pathogenicity and iron.

Hermann J. Heipieper
Department of Environmental Biotechnology, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Leipzig, Germany. E-mail: hermann.heipieper@ufz.de Homepage: www.ufz.de/index.php?en=4531
Microbial adaptation to stress; Composition and adaptation of microbial membranes; Regulation of degradative pathways; Physiology of the degradation of toxic organic compounds (xenobiotics, herbicides).

Dieter Jahn
Institute for Microbiology, Technical University of Braunschweig, Braunschweig, Germany. E-mail: d.jahn@tu-bs.de
Bacterial biochemistry and bioenergetics; Enzyme mechanisms; Tetrapyrroles; Control of bacterial gene expression.

Euan James
The James Hutton Institute, Dundee, Scotland. E-mail: euan.james@hutton.ac.uk.
Nitrogen fixation; N-fixing symbioses with legumes and non-legumes; Nodulation; Ultrastructure and anatomy of symbiotic organisms; Beneficial plant-bacterial interactions.

Jana Jass
School of Science and Technology, Örebro University, Örebro, Sweden. E-mail: jana.jass@oru.se
orcidhttp://orcid.org/0000-0001-7957-0310
Probiotic mechanisms of lactic acid bacteria; Biofilms, host-microbe interaction; Nanotechnology; Antibiotic and multi-drug resistance; Stress response to environmental factors.

Sophia Johler
Institute for Food Safety and Hygiene, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Zürich, Switzerland. Email: sophia.johler@uzh.ch
Foodborne toxins; Food safety and hygiene; Foodborne outbreak investigations; Identification and typing of foodborne pathogens; Source attribution; MRSA; Food microbiology education.

Kevin Maringer
Department of Microbial Sciences, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey, UK. Email: k.maringer@surrey.ac.uk 
Orcid Logohttp://orcid.org/0000-0003-0977-8807
Virus-Host Interactions (Eukarya), Flavivirus Pathogenesis and Transmission, Biology of Invertebrate Disease Vectors, Innate Immunity (Vertebrate and Invertebrate), Transposons of Eukarya, Proteomics

Geertje van Keulen
College of Medicine, Swansea University, Wales, UK. E-mail: g.van.keulen@swansea.ac.uk
Antimicrobials; Natural products; Natural antibiosis; Metabolic engineering; Microbial physiology; (Bio)surface engineering.

Andre Klier
Dépt des Biotechnologies, Unit´e de Biochemie Microbienne, Institut Pasteur, 25 Rue du Docteur Roux, 75724 Paris, Cedex 15, France. E-mail: aklier@pasteur.fr
Molecular biology; Genetics; Biochemistry and physiology of Gram-positive bacteria.

Wolfgang Kneifel
Department of Food Science and Technology, ‘BOKU’-University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences, Vienna, Austria. E-mail: wolfgang.kneifel@boku.ac.at
Food fermentation; Lactic acid bacteria; Microbiological quality criteria of foods; Bacterial strain safety and virulence; Product development and quality assessment of functional foods (pro- and prebiotics); Food safety (hygiene issues).

Jan-Ulrich Kreft
Centre for Systems Biology, School of Biosciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK. E-mail: j.kreft@bham.ac.uk
Environmental microbiology; Population dynamics; Mathematical modelling; Biofilms; Social behaviour; Systems biology.

Károly Márialigeti
Department of Microbiology, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary. E-mail: marialigeti.karoly@ttk.elte.hu
Environmental microbiology; Microbial ecology; Microbial taxonomy; Classical and molecular phylogenetics; Environmental biotechnology.

Andrew Millard
College of Life Sciences, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK. E-mail: adm39@le.ac.uk
Bacteriophages; Cyanophages; Cyanobacteria; Marine microbiology; Bioinformatics; Genomics.

Skorn Mongkolsuk
Laboratory of Biotechnology, Chulabhorn Research Institute, Bangkok, Thailand. E-mail: scsmk@mahidol.ac.th
Environmental microbiology; Plant-microbe interactions; Regulation of gene expression; Bacterial biochemistry, physiology and genetics of stresses and metals.

Marco Moracci
Institute of Protein Biochemistry-CNR, Naples, Italy. E-mail: marco.moracci@ibbr.cnr.it
orcidhttp://orcid.org/0000-0002-9846-2531
Physiology and biochemistry of hyperthermophilic bacteria and archaea; Control of gene expression in thermophilic archaea; Biotechnological applications of enzymes from extremophiles.

Akio Nakane
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Hirosaki University Graduate School of Medicine, Hirosaki, Aomori, Japan. E-mail: a27k03n0@hirosaki-u.ac.jp
Bacterial pathogenicity, especially intracellular bacteria and Gram-positive cocci; Immune response to infection and vaccines; Experimental infection in animal models.

Tim Nichol
Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield, United Kingdom. E-mail: t.nichol@shu.ac.uk
orcidhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-0115-957X
Antimicrobials, Sol gel coatings, Drug delivery, Bacterial oxygenases, Biocatalysis

Stefan Olsson
Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. E-mail: stefan@olssonstefan.com  
Fungal physiology; Secondary metabolites; Fungal eco-physiology; Fungal stress physiology and Fungal-bacterial interactions (bacterial biological control of plant pathogens).

Aharon Oren
Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, Institute of Life Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel. E-mail: aharon.oren@mail.huji.ac.il
Microbial ecology and physiology; Halophilic microorganisms; Photosynthetic prokaryotes.

Olga N. Ozoline
Institute of Cell Biophysics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow Region, Russian Federation. E-mail: ozoline@rambler.ru
Molecular microbiology; Gene expression and regulation by transcription factors and untranslated RNAs; Antisense RNAs; Bioinformatics in promoter modeling; Functional relations in living cells.

Seraphim Papanikolaou
Laboratory of Food Microbiology and Biotechnology, Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, Agricultural University of Athens, Athens, Greece. E-mail: spapanik@aua.gr
Microbial Biotechnology; Industrial fermentations; Production and study of lipids by microbial strains; Biotechnological valorization of agro-industrial wastes and residues; Production of microbial metabolic products; Yeast.

Stefanie Pöggeler
Georg-August Universität Göttingen, Institute of Microbiology and Genetics, Department of Genetics of Eukaryotic Microorganisms, Göttingen, Germany. E-mail: spoegge@gwdg.de
orcidhttp://orcid.org/0000-0002-6842-4489
Fungal genetics; Fungal cell biology; Morphogenesis of fungi; Sexual reproduction of fungi; Fungal inteins, protein splicing and intein applications.

Claire Remacle
Genetics of Microorganisms, Department of Life Sciences B22, University of Liege, Liege, Belgium. E-mail: c.remacle@ulg.ac.be
The function and biogenesis of mitochondria and chloroplasts; Genetics and molecular biology of lower eukaryotes with emphasis on cell organelles.

Ezio Ricca
Dipartimento di Fisiologia Generale ed Ambientale, Universitā Federico II, Naples, Italy. E-mail: ericca@unina.it
Bacterial differentiation; Sporulation; Gene expression in gram-positive bacteria; Bacteria as vaccine vehicles and as probiotics; Display of molecules on bacterial surfaces.

Sylvie Rimsky
Enzymologie et Cinétique Structurale, LBPA, UMR 8113, Ecole Normale Supérieure de Cachan/CNRS, Université Paris XI, Paris, France. E-mail: sylvie.rimsky@lbpa.ens-cachan.fr
Protein-DNA interaction; Bacterial chromatin organisation; Protein–protein interaction (non-membrane); DNA chemical/enzymatic reactivity; "nucleoid" and nucleoid associated proteins.

Marilyn C. Roberts
Department of Pathobiology 357238, School of Public Health, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA. E-mail: marilynr@u.washington.edu
Antibiotic and heavy metal resistance mechanisms, exchange of resistance genes within and between ecosystems and their impact on public health; Bacteria associated with dental caries, periodontal disease and oral microflora; Detection of bacteria and specific genes using molecular methods; Molecular epidemiology.

Lesley Robertson
Delft Science Center and Department of Biotechnology, Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands. E-mail: l.a.robertson@tudelft.nl
History of biosciences especially the microbiology associated with A van Leeuwenhoek, WM Beijerinck, G. van Iterson and AJ Kluyver. Historical microbiology in education.

Kendra Rumbaugh
Department of Surgery, MS 8312, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Lubock, TX, USA. E-mail: kendra.rumbaugh@ttuhsc.edu
Bacterial cell-cell communication; Quorum sensing; Interkingdom signaling; Pseudomonas; Biofilms; Microbial pathogenesis; Animal models of infection; Host-response.

Lígia Saraiva
Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica. Oeiras, Portugal. E-mail: lst@itqb.unl.pt
Nitrosative stress; Carbon Monoxide and Bacteria; Biosynthesis of metal centers in proteins; Staphylococcus aureus; Helicobacter pylori; Escherichia coli; Biochemistry; Microbiology; Molecular Genetics; Transcriptomics.

Michael Sauer
Department of Biotechnology, BOKU University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, Austria. E-mail: michael.sauer@boku.ac.at
Industrial microbiology; Microbial production of chemicals, particularly organic acids; Metabolic analyses and metabolic engineering; Stress resistance/strain robustness of microbial cell factories; Synthetic biology.

Mark Schembri
ŒSchool of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia. E-mail: m.schembri@uq.edu.au
Orcid Logohttp://orcid.org/0000-0003-4863-9260
Bacterial pathogenesis; Virulence factors; Biofilms; Adhesins; Gene regulation; Host-pathogen interactions; Vaccines.

Kathleen Scott
Department of Integrative Biology, University of South Florida, Tampa, USA. E-mail: kmscott@usf.edu
Microbial physiology; Autotrophy; Lithotrophy; Carbon metabolism; Hydrothermal vents; Carbon stable isotope biogeochemistry.

Craig Shoemaker
United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service, Auburn, AL 36832, USA. E-mail: craig.shoemaker@ars.usda.gov
Fish microbiology; Fish pathogenicity; Immunology and vaccine development in fish species.

Stefan Sievert
Biology Dept, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA, USA. E-mail: ssievert@whoi.edu
Sulfur cycling (particularly sulfur oxidation); Carbon fixation; (Hyper) Thermophiles; Microbial ecology and physiology, in particular in relation to chemosynthetic ecosystems; Microbial oceanography.

Simon Silver
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Illinois, Chicago, IL, USA. E-mail: simon@uic.edu
Orcid Logohttp://orcid.org/0000-0002-5692-3125
Bacterial membrane transport; Metal-resistance mechanisms; Gram-positive bacteria and pseudomonads; Molecular genetics and biochemistry.

Matthias Steiger
Austrian Centre of Industrial Biotechnology, Vienna, Austria. E-mail: matthias.steiger@boku.ac.at
Orcid Logohttp://orcid.org/0000-0002-8985-2343
Metabolic engineering; Microbial production of chemicals mainly organic acids; Filamentous fungi as microbial cell factories; Physiology and development of filamentous fungi; Cellular compartimentalization; Cellular transport processes; Biological thermodynamics; Yeast.

Alexander Steinbuchel
Institut für Molekulare Mikrobiologie und Biotechnologie, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität, Münster, Germany. E-mail: steinbu@uni-muenster.de
Metabolism and biotechnological production of biopolymers (Polyesters, Cyanophycin and other poly (amino acids)); Microbial degradation of rubber.

Andreas Stolz
Institut für Mikrobiologie, Universität Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany. E-mail: andreas.stolz@imb.uni-stuttgart.de
Biocatalysis; Biotransformations; Biodegradation; Nitrile-converting enzymes; Oxygenases; Metabolism of sulfonic acids and azo dyes; Physiology and genetics of sphingomonads.

Marcos André Vannier-Santos
Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, FIOCRUZ. Rio de Janeiro, RJ - Brasil. E-mail: marcos.vannier@pesquisador.cnpq.br
Protozoa; Leishmania; Trypanosoma; Chemotherapy; Electron microscopy; Giardia.

Sandhya S. Visweswariah
Department of Molecular Reproduction, Development and Genetics, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India. E-mail: sandhya@mrdg.iisc.ernet.in
Host-microbe interactions; Cyclic nucleotide signalling in Mycobacteria; Bacterial toxins; Enteric diseases.

Arnoud H. M. van Vliet
School of Veterinary Medicine, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Surrey, Guildford, UK. E-mail: arnoud@microbialomics.com
Orcid Logohttp://orcid.org/0000-0003-0203-1305
Microbial genomics; Microbial pathogenesis and genetics; Microbial metal metabolism.

Gerard Wall
Microbiology, NUI Galway, University Road, Galway, Ireland. E-mail: gerard.wall@nuigalway.ie
Microbial biotechnology; Recombinant proteins; Protein expression; Microbial cell factories; Protein engineering; Functional biomaterials; Protein immobilisation; Recombinant antibodies.

Kay Yeoman
School of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK. E-mail: k.yeoman@uea.ac.uk
Professional development, Science communication, Public engagement, Education, Extracurricular education, Microbiology.

Yu-Zhong Zhang
Marine Biotechnology Research Center and State Key Lab of Microbial Technology, Shandong University, Jinan, China. E-mail: zhangyz@sdu.edu.cn
Marine microbiology; Cold-adapted microorganisms; Deep sea microbiology; Polar ecosystems; Enzymology; Protease.