Extremophiles for Sustainable Industrial Bioprocesses and Bioproducts

Extremophile biotechnology encompasses the study and exploitation of microorganisms adapted to high and low temperatures, high salinity, extreme pH, elevated pressure, desiccation, radiation, elevated concentrations of metals and other toxic elements, and combinations of these conditions. Thermophiles, psychrophiles, halophiles, acidophiles, alkaliphiles, piezophiles, radioresistant microorganisms, and polyextremophiles possess enzymes, metabolic pathways, cell structures, and protective molecules with exceptional stability and functionality. These properties have positioned extremophiles as promising platforms for industrial biocatalysis and the production of biosurfactants, exopolysaccharides, compatible solutes, pigments, biopolymers, antimicrobials, and other value-added compounds. However, significant challenges remain, including the limited exploration of extreme habitats, the poor culturability of many microorganisms, incomplete understanding of their physiology, limited knowledge of the potential metabolites of biotechnological interest they generate, and difficulties in achieving consistent production at scale. Recent advances in genome sequencing, metagenomics, multi-omics, synthetic biology, genome mining, systems biology, and artificial intelligence are expanding access to extremophile diversity and revealing new catalytic and biosynthetic capabilities. Nevertheless, the translation of these discoveries into economically viable, sustainable, competitive, and market-ready processes remains incomplete, particularly regarding pilot-scale validation, process intensification, downstream recovery, techno-economic performance, commercialization pathways, and integration with industrial supply chains.This Research Topic aims to advance the development of extremophiles as robust platforms for industrial bioprocesses and bioproducts. It will connect fundamental research on extremophile biology and adaptation with practical approaches for strain development, cultivation, bioconversion, product recovery, formulation, and industrial implementation. The topic will examine how extremophile-derived systems can improve process stability, reduce energy and resource requirements, enable the use of non-conventional feedstocks, and deliver products with distinctive functional properties, while remaining economically and technologically competitive. Contributions may address the discovery of new organisms and molecules, the engineering of extremophiles and their enzymes, and the validation of processes through laboratory, pilot-scale, techno-economic, life-cycle, or industrial studies. The overarching goal is to identify the biological, technological, and commercial factors required to move extremophile-based innovations from discovery to scalable, sustainable, and competitive industrial applications.To gather further insights into the discovery, engineering, processing, and application of extremophiles across the industrial value chain, we welcome articles addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:• Bioprospecting and cultivation of extremophiles from natural and underexplored environments• Genomics, metagenomics, genome mining, multi-omics, and systems biology of extremophile microorganisms• Extremozymes for industrial biocatalysis, including thermostable, cold-active, halostable, acid-stable, and alkali-stable enzymes, and their computational discovery, structural and mechanistic characterization, and rational or data-driven engineering• Radioresistant microorganisms, including their isolation and characterization, mechanisms of tolerance, and capacity to sequester or remediate radioactive metals• High-value bioproducts, including biosurfactants, exopolysaccharides, compatible solutes/osmolytes, pigments, biopolymers, antimicrobial compounds, nutraceuticals, and pharmaceutical compounds• Whole-cell biocatalysts, microbial consortia, and extremophile-based bioconversion platforms• Strain improvement, metabolic engineering, synthetic biology, and heterologous expression• Artificial intelligence, machine learning, and multi-omics approaches for extremophile discovery, enzyme engineering, and process optimization• Media design, cultivation strategies, bioreactor design and operation optimization for extreme physicochemical conditions, fermentation control, process intensification, and scale-up under extreme conditions• Downstream processing, purification, stabilization, formulation, and storage of extremophile-derived products• Applications in food and feed, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, biofuels, chemicals, textiles, pulp and paper, mining, agriculture, and environmental biotechnology• Extremophiles for circular bioeconomy applications, including waste valorization and the conversion of side streams into value-added products• Pilot-scale validation, techno-economic, life-cycle, sustainability, regulatory, and market assessments of extremophile-based technologies, including commercialization pathways• Case studies linking biological discovery and process development to industrial adoption and product outcomes Topic editors: Raquel Lebrero, Pedro Ferreira, G Kiran Kumar Reddy, Nonso E. Nnolim, Satya Sundar Mohanty Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/84185/extremophiles-for-sustainable-industrial-bioprocesses-and-bioproducts