The Microbiome of Medicinal Plants: Metabolic Interactions

A special issue of Microorganisms (ISSN 2076-2607). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant Microbe Interactions".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2022) | Viewed by 3231

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Guest Editor
Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF), 15374 Müncheberg, Germany
Interests: plant–microbe interactions; soil and plant microbiome; microbial diversity; extremophiles; PGPR; rhizosphere
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Medicinal plants are traditionally used worldwide as remedies for the treatment of various diseases and can synthesize a diverse array of biologically active compounds that can strongly affect plant-associated microbial communities and their physiological functions. Although a vast number of medicinal plants have been well-studied with respect to their phytochemical constituents and pharmacological properties, their microbiome and physiological host–microbe interactions remain poorly understood. The microbes that colonize internal plant tissues strongly affect secondary metabolite synthesis in plants. The composition of the biologically active compounds that are present in medicinal plants varies widely and depends on the plant species, soil type, and their association with microbes. Plant-associated microbes can synthesize similar secondary metabolites as their host and are an attractive source of novel bioactive compounds with pharmaceutical potential.

The Special Issue invites research articles and reviews in the areas mentioned above, and submissions should be largely focused on unraveling the metabolic exchange between plants and microbes and the mechanisms that are involved in these interactions.

Dr. Dilfuza Egamberdieva
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • plant microbiome
  • endophytes
  • secondary metabolites
  • plant interactions

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

18 pages, 2223 KiB  
Article
The Metabolic Potential of Endophytic Actinobacteria Associated with Medicinal Plant Thymus roseus as a Plant-Growth Stimulator
by Osama Abdalla Abdelshafy Mohamad, Yong-Hong Liu, Yin Huang, Li Li, Jin-Biao Ma, Dilfuza Egamberdieva, Lei Gao, Bao-Zhu Fang, Shaimaa Hatab, Hong-Chen Jiang and Wen-Jun Li
Microorganisms 2022, 10(9), 1802; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/microorganisms10091802 - 07 Sep 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2258
Abstract
Bio-fertilizer practice considers not only economical but also environmentally friendly, sustainable agriculture. Endophytes can play important beneficiary roles in plant development, directly, indirectly, or synergistically. In this study, the majority of our endophytic actinobacteria were able to possess direct plant growth-promoting (PGP) traits, [...] Read more.
Bio-fertilizer practice considers not only economical but also environmentally friendly, sustainable agriculture. Endophytes can play important beneficiary roles in plant development, directly, indirectly, or synergistically. In this study, the majority of our endophytic actinobacteria were able to possess direct plant growth-promoting (PGP) traits, including auxin (88%), ammonia (96%), siderophore production (94%), and phosphate solubilization (24%), along with cell-wall degrading enzymes such as protease (75%), cellulase (81%), lipase (81%), and chitinase (18%). About 45% of tested strains have an inhibitory effect on the phytopathogen Fusarium oxysporum, followed by 26% for Verticillium dahlia. Overall, our results showed that strains XIEG63 and XIEG55 were the potent strains with various PGP traits that caused a higher significant increase (p ≤ 0.05) in length and biomass in the aerial part and roots of tomato and cotton, compared to the uninoculated plants. Our data showed that the greatest inhibition percentages of two phytopathogens were achieved due to treatment with strains XIEG05, XIEG07, XIEG45, and XIEG51. The GC-MS analysis showed that most of the compounds were mainly alkanes, fatty acid esters, phenols, alkenes, and aromatic chemicals and have been reported to have antifungal activity. Our investigation emphasizes that endophytic actinobacteria associated with medicinal plants might help reduce the use of chemical fertilization and potentially lead to increased agricultural productivity and sustainability. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Microbiome of Medicinal Plants: Metabolic Interactions)
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