Industrial microbiology exploits the ecological adaptations that microorganisms
have developed to communicate with and survive in their environments. This
issue of Current Opinion in Microbiology explores the intersection of industrial microbiology
with ecological microbiology, which is the study of these adaptations.
The reviews in this issue focus on the structure and function of microbial
communities and the transformation of organic and inorganic substrates by
bacteria. These topics unite industrial applications with ecological innovation, using
bacterial transformation of chemical environments and their virtually limitless
adaptive strategies to cultivate industrial applications. Several themes emerge
that illustrate how the complexity and vitality of microbial communities and
their interactions with the chemical and physical environment produce their
myriad industrial uses: microbial ecology requires innovative methods to illuminate
the lives of microorganisms in their natural habitats; communities and the behavior
of individuals in them are shaped by communication networks mediated by
diffusible signals; microorganisms transform the environments in which they
live, and the biochemical drivers of the transformations are the instruments of
medicinal, agricultural and industrial applications.