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Plant-Associated Microorganisms: Exploring Their Beneficial and Harmful Impacts on Plant Production in Response to a Changing Climate

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A special issue of Plants (ISSN 2223-7747). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant Protection and Biotic Interactions".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 September 2024 | Viewed by 5497

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Mohamed Ait-El-Mokhtar

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Guest Editor

Department of Biology, University of Hassan II of Casablanca, Casablanca 20000, Morocco
Interests: plant tolerance; biotic and abiotic stresses; biostimulants/biofertilizers; salinity; drought; AMF; PGPR; organic amendments
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Marouane Baslam

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Guest Editor

Laboratory of Biochemistry, Faculty of Agriculture, Niigata University, Niigata 950-2181, Japan
Interests: plant–microorganism interactions, -omics; climate change; yield; sustainability
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Through thousands of years of evolution, plants and microorganisms have developed fine-tuned associations that result in various protective or destructive mechanisms, leading to plant survival and adaptation to environmental changes. Plants interact with different soil microorganisms, including prokaryotes, fungi, or viruses. Symbiotic microbes can boost or hinder plant nutrient uptake and use efficiency, which affects growth, fitness, yield, and quality even under environmental stresses. Plant-associated microbes activate several physiological, biochemical, and molecular pathways that coordinate carbon and nitrogen metabolism and alter the synthesis and buildup of primary and secondary compounds with osmotic, antioxidant, and hormone-like activity.

This Special Issue of Plants aims to gather recent data and innovations in the research on the mechanisms governing interaction between plants and soil microorganisms, as well as to identify new prospects, directions and challenges in the development of plant and microbial biotechnologies. An integrated understanding of these interactions will empower the design of treatments that specifically promote crop yield and quality under changing climate conditions. We welcome the submission of original research articles, reviews, opinion, and methods, focusing on (but not limited to) the following topics:

Microbial application for plant growth promotion and/or protection;
Innovative and more effective microbial formulations towards agriculture sustainability;
Drivers, roles, processes, and mechanisms in plant-microbe interactions;
Molecular, genomic, and metagenomic analysis of plant-associated microbe biodiversity;
Physiological, biochemical, and molecular functions of symbiotic microorganisms in plants to mitigate the adverse impact of environmental stresses;
Impact of symbiotic microbes application on plant susceptibility to pathogen infection;
Impact of microorganisms on nutrient transformations in soil toward promoting plant fitness.

Dr. Mohamed Ait-El-Mokhtar
Dr. Marouane Baslam
Guest Editors

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. Plants is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly 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.

Keywords

plant-microbe interactions
endosymbiosis
biofertilizers/biological fertilizers/biostimulants
plant adaptation and stress tolerance
biopriming
biocontrol agents
legume–rhizobial symbioses
arbuscular mycorrhiza
rhizosphere microbiome
endophytic microbiome
sustainable agriculture
microbial biotechnology
pathogen–host interactions
plant defense mechanisms
plant disease management

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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19 pages, 1546 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Effects of Humic Substances and Mycorrhizal Fungi on Drought-Stressed Cactus: Focus on Growth, Physiology, and Biochemistry

by Soufiane Lahbouki, Ana Luísa Fernando, Carolina Rodrigues, Raja Ben-Laouane, Mohamed Ait-El-Mokhtar, Abdelkader Outzourhit and Abdelilah Meddich

Plants 2023, 12(24), 4156; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/plants12244156 - 14 Dec 2023

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Abstract

Utilizing water resources rationally has become critical due to the expected increase in water scarcity. Cacti are capable of surviving with minimal water requirements and in poor soils. Despite being highly drought-resistant, cacti still faces limitations in realizing its full potential under drought-stress conditions. To this end, we investigated the interactive effect of humic substances (Hs) and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) on cactus plants under drought stress. In the study, a cactus pot experiment had three irrigation levels (W1: no irrigation, W2: 15% of field capacity, and W3: 30% of field capacity) and two biostimulants (Hs soil amendment and AMF inoculation), applied alone or combined. The findings show that the W1 and W2 regimes affected cactus performance. However, Hs and/or AMF significantly improved growth. Our results revealed that drought increased the generation of reactive oxygen species. However, Hs and/or AMF application improved nutrient uptake and increased anthocyanin content and free amino acids. Furthermore, the soil’s organic matter, phosphorus, nitrogen, and potassium contents were improved by the application of these biostimulants. Altogether, using Hs alone or in combination with AMF can be an effective and sustainable approach to enhance the tolerance of cactus plants to drought conditions, while also improving the soil quality. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Plant-Associated Microorganisms: Exploring Their Beneficial and Harmful Impacts on Plant Production in Response to a Changing Climate)

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Review

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30 pages, 1200 KiB

Open AccessReview

Signals and Machinery for Mycorrhizae and Cereal and Oilseed Interactions towards Improved Tolerance to Environmental Stresses

by Aiman Slimani, Mohamed Ait-El-Mokhtar, Raja Ben-Laouane, Abderrahim Boutasknit, Mohamed Anli, El Faiza Abouraicha, Khalid Oufdou, Abdelilah Meddich and Marouane Baslam

Plants 2024, 13(6), 826; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/plants13060826 - 13 Mar 2024

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Abstract

In the quest for sustainable agricultural practices, there arises an urgent need for alternative solutions to mineral fertilizers and pesticides, aiming to diminish the environmental footprint of farming. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) emerge as a promising avenue, bestowing plants with heightened nutrient absorption capabilities while alleviating plant stress. Cereal and oilseed crops benefit from this association in a number of ways, including improved growth fitness, nutrient uptake, and tolerance to environmental stresses. Understanding the molecular mechanisms shaping the impact of AMF on these crops offers encouraging prospects for a more efficient use of these beneficial microorganisms to mitigate climate change-related stressors on plant functioning and productivity. An increased number of studies highlighted the boosting effect of AMF on grain and oil crops’ tolerance to (a)biotic stresses while limited ones investigated the molecular aspects orchestrating the different involved mechanisms. This review gives an extensive overview of the different strategies initiated by mycorrhizal cereal and oilseed plants to manage the deleterious effects of environmental stress. We also discuss the molecular drivers and mechanistic concepts to unveil the molecular machinery triggered by AMF to alleviate the tolerance of these crops to stressors. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Plant-Associated Microorganisms: Exploring Their Beneficial and Harmful Impacts on Plant Production in Response to a Changing Climate)

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23 pages, 3686 KiB

Open AccessReview

Beneficial Microorganisms as Bioprotectants against Foliar Diseases of Cereals: A Review

by Ilham Dehbi, Oussama Achemrk, Rachid Ezzouggari, Moussa El Jarroudi, Fouad Mokrini, Ikram Legrifi, Zineb Belabess, Salah-Eddine Laasli, Hamid Mazouz and Rachid Lahlali

Plants 2023, 12(24), 4162; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/plants12244162 - 14 Dec 2023

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Abstract

Cereal production plays a major role in both animal and human diets throughout the world. However, cereal crops are vulnerable to attacks by fungal pathogens on the foliage, disrupting their biological cycle and photosynthesis, which can reduce yields by 15–20% or even 60%. Consumers are concerned about the excessive use of synthetic pesticides given their harmful effects on human health and the environment. As a result, the search for alternative solutions to protect crops has attracted the interest of scientists around the world. Among these solutions, biological control using beneficial microorganisms has taken on considerable importance, and several biological control agents (BCAs) have been studied, including species belonging to the genera Bacillus, Pseudomonas, Streptomyces, Trichoderma, Cladosporium, and Epicoccum, most of which include plants of growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPRs). Bacillus has proved to be a broad-spectrum agent against these leaf cereal diseases. Interaction between plant and beneficial agents occurs as direct mycoparasitism or hyperparasitism by a mixed pathway via the secretion of lytic enzymes, growth enzymes, and antibiotics, or by an indirect interaction involving competition for nutrients or space and the induction of host resistance (systemic acquired resistance (SAR) or induced systemic resistance (ISR) pathway). We mainly demonstrate the role of BCAs in the defense against fungal diseases of cereal leaves. To enhance a solution-based crop protection approach, it is also important to understand the mechanism of action of BCAs/molecules/plants. Research in the field of preventing cereal diseases is still ongoing. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Plant-Associated Microorganisms: Exploring Their Beneficial and Harmful Impacts on Plant Production in Response to a Changing Climate)

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