An Introduction to Microbial Biodiversity and Bioprospection

Editorial for the Special Issue: Environment Microorganisms and Their Enzymes with Biotechnological Application

“…The search for, collection and analysis of biological materials obtained from natural environments are conducted with the aim of unearthing novel compounds, genes or organisms with commercial or industrial applications. Furthermore, bioprospecting is growing indiscriminately, with exploration expanding from more common terrestrial ecosystems to biodiverse ecosystems with low or non-existent human populations, such as salt pans and lakes, sulfur pools, volcanoes, high altitude mountains, deserts, tundras and marine environments [ 1 ]. The metabolites and enzymes produced by microorganisms in these ecosystems could have impressive thermostability, cold adaptability, salt tolerance and resistance to environmental stressors that would not be tolerated by more common microorganisms [ 2 ].…”