Cyanobacteria, the ancient photoautotrophs on the Earth have always been regarded as the most important organism to sustain life in the planet. They are among the first pioneering communities on various harsh habitat, hydrarch or xerarch, which finally facilitate the emergence of vast communities including higher plants. Being the progenitor of chloroplast, the cyanobacterial metabolisms has always fascinated microbiologist. Additionally, the ability of these prokaryotes to produce valuable and prolific sources of natural products signified their role in array of industrial sectors. Further, the attempts to engineer the cyanobacterial metabolisms in way to enhance production of these metabolites are gradually increasing. Therefore, in this book, we proposed to accumulate the knowledge of cyanobacterial metabolisms and molecules as an asset for students, researchers, and biotechnologists. Cyanobacteria: Metabolisms to Molecules will cover diversity, fundamental metabolisms, crucial metabolities and their synthesis, and bioinformatics.

The ever-increasing human population, rapid development of industries and human introduction of different xenobiotic compounds have contaminated the three major abiotic environmental factors (i.e., air, water and soil) all over the world. Contamination of these factors exerts adverse impacts on existing plants and microbes. Microbes present in the air, water and soil are always exposed to the ever-changing environment and exhibit tremendous variations in their community structure. However, few environmental alterations have positive and beneficial impacts on microbes. Plants also show a number of detrimental symptoms such as reduced growth, delayed fruit ripening, altered photosynthesis, rapid leaf fall, early senescence and premature death of seedlings in response to the disintegration of air, water and soil quality. So, the survival of plants and microbes in these changing environments is under serious threat. However, it is interesting how plants and microbes, despite their extreme sensitivity to environmental changes, are surviving in these continuously changing environments. In this respect, a genomic study of plants and microbes may help to understand how they have overcome previous environmental changes because millions of years of natural selection have shaped their genome. Moreover, this process of acclimation to environmental stresses was further continued through the inheritance of the altered genome of the offspring. In brief, present-day plants and microbes have obtained the resistance power from their precursors, which they have developed during the course of evolution. Hence, this book entails the consequences of environmental changes in plants and microbes, and the strategies adapted by them for survival.