Plant–Microbe Symbiosis for Climate Resilience and Sustainable Agriculture

Submission Deadline: 20 August 2027 View: 114 Submit to Special Issue

Guest Editor(s)

Dr. Samreen Nazeer

Email: samreennazeer1@gmail.com

Affiliation: Department of Food and Drug, University of Parma, Parma, Italy

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Research Interests: agronomy, crop physiology, organic amendments, symbiosis, microbiota diversification, rhizosphere analysis

Dr. Muhammad Zubair Akram

Email: zakram97@yahoo.com

Affiliation: Department of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Sciences, University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy

Homepage:

Research Interests: agronomy, crop physiology, biochar, abiotic stresses, climate change, biostimulants, mitigation strategies

Summary

Plant–microbe symbioses play a pivotal role in sustaining plant growth, nutrient acquisition, stress tolerance and ecosystem resilience. Beneficial interactions involving rhizobia, mycorrhizal fungi, endophytes, plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) and other microbial partners have emerged as promising nature-based solutions for improving crop productivity under increasingly challenging environmental conditions. However, climate change and anthropogenic activities have intensified abiotic stresses such as drought, salinity, heat, cold, heavy metal contamination and nutrient deficiency, while simultaneously altering plant–microbiome interactions and increasing susceptibility to biotic stresses. Understanding the molecular, physiological, ecological and biotechnological mechanisms governing plant–microbe symbiosis under environmental stress is therefore essential for developing sustainable agricultural practices and enhancing food security.

This Special Issue aims to provide a comprehensive platform for publishing original research articles, reviews, and perspectives that advance our understanding of plant–microbe symbiosis under diverse environmental stresses. It welcomes multidisciplinary studies spanning molecular biology, microbiology, plant physiology, ecology, biotechnology, genomics, transcriptomics, metabolomics and systems biology, with an emphasis on translating fundamental discoveries into climate-resilient agricultural applications.

Suggested themes include, but are not limited to:
● Molecular mechanisms regulating plant–microbe symbiosis under abiotic and biotic stress.
● Rhizosphere microbiome dynamics and stress adaptation.
● Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, rhizobia, endophytes, and plant growth-promoting microorganisms in stress mitigation.
● Microbial regulation of plant immunity and stress signaling networks.
● Multi-omics approaches to decipher plant–microbiome interactions.
● Synthetic microbial communities and microbiome engineering for resilient agriculture.
● Plant–microbe interactions under drought, salinity, heat, cold, flooding, nutrient limitation, and heavy metal stress.
● Climate change impacts on plant–microbe associations and ecosystem functioning.
● Biofertilizers, biostimulants, and microbial inoculants for sustainable crop production.
● Emerging biotechnological approaches, including genome editing, artificial intelligence, and precision agriculture, for enhancing beneficial plant–microbe interactions.

By bringing together cutting-edge research from diverse disciplines, this Special Issue seeks to foster innovative strategies for exploiting beneficial plant–microbe symbioses to improve crop resilience, productivity, and sustainability in the face of global environmental challenges.

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