Dear Colleagues,

Protein kinases (PKs) and protein phosphatases (PPs) are well-known enzymes for monitoring the phosphorylation status of proteins to deliver appropriate functions. The role of these enzymes is tightly regulated via their own phosphorylation/dephosphorylation state and/or their interactions with diverse partners to fulfill and coordinate specific biological processes at the right time at the right place to maintain cellular homeostasis. Although more attention was focused on kinases to understand their roles in order to develop new means for therapeutic intervention, phosphatases started to emerge in the last years as key players to control different pathways during the cell cycle. Based on recent literature, PPs could not be any more ignored and seem to be involved in diseases and to be feasible drug targets.

In infectious microorganisms, though the functional characterization of phosphatomes is at its infancy, accumulating evidence from yeast and mammalian studies based on biochemical and reverse genetic approaches including multi-omics has shown the essential roles played by PPs. Moreover, some intracellular pathogens, including parasites and viruses manipulate the host phosphatases activities to facilitate their growth and division.

The aim of this Special Issue is to give a platform to researchers to exchange information and updates about PPs in bacteria, fungus, parasites, and agent hijacking host PPs, i.e., viruses to address challenges and future questions.

For this purpose, we cordially invite you to submit research articles, review articles, and short communications related to the various aspects of PPs in pathogens, dealing with molecular and functional characterization of these enzymes (structure, catalytic mechanism, regulation, and signaling pathways), pathogen–host interactions involving host phosphatases and phosphatases as drug targets.

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Microorganisms is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.