Molecular and Cellular Communication Between Plants and Plant Growth-Promoting Microorganisms and Their Nanoparticles for Abiotic and Biotic Stress Tolerance

Submission Deadline: 31 July 2023 (closed)

Guest Editors

Summary

Pests, diseases, and environmental stress cause more than a third of the world's crop production to be lost. At the same time, we are dealing with rising food demand from an ever-increasing global population. It is critical to utilize the functions of plant-growth-promoting microorganisms and their metabolites in order to improve agricultural production in a sustainable manner, i.e., to limit the detrimental impact of agrochemicals. The interactions between beneficial microbes and plants may protect against abiotic stresses such as drought, salinity, floods, temperature, or pollution and biotic stresses such as fungal, bacterial, insect, and viral infection.

Microorganisms are also recognized for modifying host plant metabolomics and generating systemic resistance by boosting the expression of stress-responsive secondary metabolites. Low-molecular-weight primary metabolites including carbohydrates, amino acids, and organic acids, as well as high-molecular-weight secondary metabolites like alkaloids, terpenoids, phenolics, mucilage, proteins, exopolysaccharide, hormones, and volatile organic compounds, are found in root exudates (VOCs). Many of the chemicals found in root exudates operate as general chemoattractants, attracting helpful microorganisms while repelling pathogens.

Plant growth-promoting bacteria can improve crop tolerance to various environmental stresses by increasing cellular metabolite levels, implying a novel role for microbes in interacting with the plant metabolome and influencing the plant microbiome. Molecular communication was built up by encompassing chemical signals from microbes to microbes, plants to microbes or microbes to plants which results in cellular response and altered gene expression. Microorganisms are also known for their role in altering the metabolomics expression of host plants and inducing their systematic resistance by increasing the expression of stress-responsive secondary metabolites. This special issue will focus on the beneficial impacts of microbe–plant interactions on plant tolerance to abiotic and biotic challenges, as well as how to better apply this information to promote agricultural production in difficult environments.

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