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As a result of the significant disruption that is being caused by the COVID-19 pandemic we are very aware that many researchers will have difficulty in meeting the timelines associated with our peer review process during normal times. Please do let us know if you need additional time. Our systems will continue to remind you of the original timelines but we intend to be highly flexible at this time.

Featured article - Identification of novel extracellular putative chitinase and hydrolase from Geomyces sp. B10I with the biodegradation activity towards polyesters

Conventional plastics are an integral part of our daily activities and make a significant contribution to various industries. Unfortunately, the extensive use of plastic causes severe environmental problems. One solution is to develop and commercialize biodegradable plastics such as polybutylene succinate (PBS), polybutylene succinate-co-adipate (PBSA), polycaprolactone (PCL), polylactic acid (PLA) or polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB), which are decisively more environment-friendly than fossil-based plastics. In this original research article, the authors partially purified and characterized two novel enzymes produced by Geomyces sp. B10I. Based on the basic local alignment search tool (BLAST), both proteins were found to belong to the hydrolase class, and more specifically to the hydrolase and chitinase families. As hydrolases are common enzymes with biodegradable activity, both enzymes are perceived to degrade polyesters and have been named hydrGB10I and chitGB10I, respectively.

Articles

Announcing the launch of In Review

AMB Express has launched In Review, a new option that provides authors with on-demand information on the status of their manuscript, enables them to share their work with funders and their research community, and allows their colleagues to comment and collaborate - all whilst their manuscript is under review.

Applied Microbiology Mini-reviews

Mini-reviews are summaries of recent insights or advances in specific research areas. This collection features all the mini-reviews published in AMB Express and provides a great account of important issues in the field of applied and industrial microbiology.

Aims and scope

AMB Express is a high quality journal that brings together research in the area of Applied and Industrial Microbiology with a particular interest in 'White Biotechnology' and 'Red Biotechnology'. The emphasis is on processes employing microorganisms, eukaryotic cell cultures or enzymes for the biosynthesis, transformation and degradation of compounds. This includes fine and bulk chemicals, polymeric compounds and enzymes or other proteins. Downstream processes are also considered. Integrated processes combining biochemical and chemical processes are also published.

Reports on the use of new procedures or tools in a clinical setting are only considered for publication if microorganisms, viruses, enzymes or other proteins from microorganisms or metabolites of microorganisms are involved as crucial and central part of the new procedure or tool.

Editor's quote

The high quality journal, AMB Express, was founded as a fully open access sister journal to Applied Microbiology and Technology about 6 years ago. Since then, the journal has become well-known to authors and reviewers whilst steadily growing. This year, we already have more than 400,000 downloads. Meanwhile, AMB Express has had several achievements: following indexing by ISI, it has since received two consecutive Thomson Reuters Science Citation Index Impact Factors. These Impact Factors were unexpectedly high, and we are very confident that they will continue to grow. What is, however, most important is that not only the number of manuscripts is increasing, but also their volume and the quality of their contents. The editors of AMB Express, the managing editor and I, will ensure that the journal’s performance and the quality of the published papers will continue to improve and that more excellent and highly cited papers will be published in AMB Express. Papers devoted to ‘Industrial Microbiology’ and with a particular interest in ‘White and Red Biotechnology’ are highly welcome; this also includes short papers in which important achievements are communicated.

Alexander Steinbüchel, Editor-in-Chief
(October 2018)
University of Münster

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