Publishing

CRISPR-Cas Article Collection in Microbiology

Microbiology is celebrating 70 years of publication this year and we are excited to have launched such an important collection, showcasing the high-quality research on CRISPR-Cas in the journal. As the flagship journal of the Microbiology Society, it is important to feature areas of research that are having a wider impact and highlight the research that has been reported in Society publications. 

All papers in the collection have been submitted to Microbiology over the years and have been collated by Microbiology Senior Editor Victor Cid form the Complutense University of Madrid. To read this freely available CRISPR-Cas collection visit our journal platform.

Francisco J. M. Mojica at the University of Alicante, an author for Microbiology, summarises the introduction of CRISPR and its growing importance within the microbiology community and society:

“The search for knowledge for its own sake might not need any defence: curiosity is inherent to the human condition. However, contribution of scientific discovery to the progress of humankind may be a matter of dispute. 

“Basic researchers set out on adventures, with indefinite boundaries, aimed at understanding aspects of the subject under study. Once this goal is achieved, producing benefits beyond wisdom is only a question of time. 

“Thirty years ago, curious DNA repeats, currently referred to as CRISPR, were found in the genome of a bacterium. Soon after, similar regularly spaced repeats were also discovered in distantly related prokaryotes, evidencing that they might be biologically relevant. Even though experiments reported in the mid-1990s supported their functionality, the specific role played by the repeat locus remained puzzling for more than a decade. 

“In 2005, the mystery was unveiled: CRISPR cassettes witness genetic intrusions. This surprising revelation caught the attention of researchers in diverse fields within life sciences, notably microbiologists who, during the following few years, confirmed CRISPR-based adaptive immunity and deciphered the underlying mechanism. Multiple uses emerged from this basic study on the biology of prokaryotes. Initially, applications [were] framed within microbiology and biotechnology. 

“Subsequently, extraordinary DNA-manipulation tools were implemented with components of this immune system and CRISPR spread into other fields, from agriculture to medicine, triggering an unprecedented revolution in science. Indeed, prokaryotes can undertake a sort of rudimentary learning, based on previous experiences. We should also learn from this lesson what the value of basic research is.”

If you would like to submit a paper to Microbiology on CRISPR-Cas or within another subject category, use our online submission service.

To read more about Microbiology and the scope of the journal, visit the journal website.

What’s new?

JMM Case Reports and Microbial Genomics are now indexed in PubMed Central (PMC), and all articles published in the journals can now be found on PMC. PMC is a free full-text archive of biomedical and life sciences journal literature at the US National Institutes of Health’s National Library of Medicine (NIH/NLM). 

Microbial Genomics is now indexed in Medline, making all work published widely visible and easy to discover to anyone using PubMed. 

Did you know that as a member of the Microbiology Society you are entitled to discounts for open access publication, or a discount on subscription fees to Microbiology Society journals (print and online)? As a not-for-profit organisation we work to bring our profits back into the Society for the benefit of our members. Members who are corresponding authors can receive up to 15% discount on Open Microbiology fees when publishing in any of the Microbiology Society journals. There is also a discount for subscriptions to the journals. For more information contact [email protected]

Check out our latest Microbe Profiles and ICTV Profiles. These are series of concise, review-type articles, freely available on www.microbiologyresearch.org. The profiles are written by leading experts in the field, providing overviews of the classification, structure and properties of the featured taxa, and are an excellent educational resource.

Here’s to 70 more years of Microbiology:

Dr Tanya Parish, Editor-in-Chief

Ever wondered what an Editor-in-Chief does? Well, at the Microbiology Editors annual meeting during the Microbiology Society’s Annual Conference, we discussed current events in publishing and microbiology – making plans for the year ahead. 

So, what’s been happening in Microbiology this year so far? 

In January we launched a new article type: ‘Short Communications’ where authors can publish smaller pieces of completed work that warrant attention but might not be as long as a full paper. 

In February we published our first Microbe Profile, on the notorious pathogen Escherichia coli O157:H7. These short articles provide a digestible introduction to key organisms relevant to our readers. We also launched the CRISPR-Cas article collection which offers easy access to related papers of interest in one place. 

Finally, we now have a direct link with bioRxiv, allowing authors to submit directly to Microbiology, providing an even easier route to getting your work published! 

As Editor-in-Chief, it’s great to see the journal continue to grow and develop, while still providing a home for high-quality research. We’ve been around for 70 years, and we hope that we continue being your home for microbiology for the next 70.

Microbiology Society journals now accepting direct submissions from bioRxiv

The Microbiology Society is delighted to announce that authors who post their manuscripts on bioRxiv will now be able to submit their papers directly to the Microbiology Society’s suite of journals! 

bioRxiv is an online archive and distribution service for preprints in the life sciences. It is operated by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, a not-for-profit research and educational institution. The Society has always supported posting to preprint servers, and this new collaboration will save authors time when submitting papers, by transmitting their manuscript files and metadata directly from bioRxiv.