In the present day, with the advent of industrialization and globalization, it is critical to understand plant interactions within our ecosystem. Plants face several adversities in the form of biotic and abiotic stresses that directly impact their productivity, yield, and overall safety globally. They impair the plant's physiological, biochemical, and molecular traits. Employment of chemical-based pesticides and fertilizers dwindles soil fertility and pollutes the environment. Henceforth, it is advisable to utilize eco-friendly, toxic-free, and economically sustainable methods for agricultural practices. In light of this, the rhizosphere is considered the most complex and pivotal interface and a beneficial hotspot for inter-communications. It contains an integration of a different network of signals, chemical/physical footprints, and microbiome functions for regulating various ecological processes.
Plant roots exude numerous exudates within the rhizosphere that play an essential role during nutrient cycling, inter-communications, and signal transduction among roots and soil. It creates a niche for microbial communities that trigger physical, chemical, and biological interactions in the rhizosphere. Root exudates enable the shaping of the rhizosphere and its communities and in turn plants impact plant growth through modulating nutrient uptake and stress resistance. As rhizospheric microflora is known to be potent candidates for plant protection under stressful conditions. They possess various roles in regulating phytohormone levels, nutrient cycling, phosphate solubilization, secondary metabolite biosynthesis, antioxidant defense expression, nitrogen fixation, siderophore production, etc. They also trigger resistance against different pathogens through induced systemic resistance and systemic acquired resistance mechanisms.
The microbiome-plant interplay is hence, most substantial for sustainable agricultural practices that prove to be the best alternatives for replacing the traditional methods. Henceforth, the root zone is considered a meta-organism for widening our knowledge about interactions taking place at the rhizospheric level and manipulation of these activities for creating desirable applications of ecosystem services. Currently, with the aid of technological advancements, a strong impulse is required to expand the understanding of rhizospheric activities, diversity, and functionalities regarding plants, microbes, and the environment. But the in-depth knowledge about rhizosphere and phytomicrobiome is still in infancy due to a lack of processes. And they require multidisciplinary efforts and convoluted interpretive perspectives for unveiling various processes of belowground interactions.
This research topic welcomes high-quality research articles, reviews, and mini-reviews that dissect the mechanisms and explores the inter-play of plant-microbe-rhizosphere interactions mediated by root exudation. The articles deciphering the following topics are encouraged and welcome, but not limited to:
- Rhizosphere activities, root exudation, microbial diversity, and transformation
- Plant signaling within the rhizosphere
- Molecular signaling including OMICS; approaches such as metabolomics, proteomics, and transcriptomics
- Plant-microbe associations under environmental cues
- Environmental hazards and Plant Microbiome
- Microbiomes in sustainable agriculture
- Advances and opinions in microbiome and plant stress tolerance through systemic resistance and genetic alterations
- Signaling molecules derived from microflora as antagonists towards stressors (secondary metabolites, phytohormones, organic acids etc.)
- Mechanistic pathways linked to root colonization of rhizosphere, quorum sensing, biofilm synthesis, root exudates, chemotaxis, etc.
- Tripartite interactions among roots-soil-microbes during stresses
- Root exudates and allelopathy
- Gene expression and plant molecular machinery in response to microbes during stresses
- Microbial-based fertilizers commercialization for sustainable agriculture
- Rhizobiome and plant defense system against pathogens
- Multiple-trophic rhizobiome composition, ecology, and nutrient cycles
- Regulatory means for soil and plant health system under stressful agricultural ecosystem.
In the present day, with the advent of industrialization and globalization, it is critical to understand plant interactions within our ecosystem. Plants face several adversities in the form of biotic and abiotic stresses that directly impact their productivity, yield, and overall safety globally. They impair the plant's physiological, biochemical, and molecular traits. Employment of chemical-based pesticides and fertilizers dwindles soil fertility and pollutes the environment. Henceforth, it is advisable to utilize eco-friendly, toxic-free, and economically sustainable methods for agricultural practices. In light of this, the rhizosphere is considered the most complex and pivotal interface and a beneficial hotspot for inter-communications. It contains an integration of a different network of signals, chemical/physical footprints, and microbiome functions for regulating various ecological processes.
Plant roots exude numerous exudates within the rhizosphere that play an essential role during nutrient cycling, inter-communications, and signal transduction among roots and soil. It creates a niche for microbial communities that trigger physical, chemical, and biological interactions in the rhizosphere. Root exudates enable the shaping of the rhizosphere and its communities and in turn plants impact plant growth through modulating nutrient uptake and stress resistance. As rhizospheric microflora is known to be potent candidates for plant protection under stressful conditions. They possess various roles in regulating phytohormone levels, nutrient cycling, phosphate solubilization, secondary metabolite biosynthesis, antioxidant defense expression, nitrogen fixation, siderophore production, etc. They also trigger resistance against different pathogens through induced systemic resistance and systemic acquired resistance mechanisms.
The microbiome-plant interplay is hence, most substantial for sustainable agricultural practices that prove to be the best alternatives for replacing the traditional methods. Henceforth, the root zone is considered a meta-organism for widening our knowledge about interactions taking place at the rhizospheric level and manipulation of these activities for creating desirable applications of ecosystem services. Currently, with the aid of technological advancements, a strong impulse is required to expand the understanding of rhizospheric activities, diversity, and functionalities regarding plants, microbes, and the environment. But the in-depth knowledge about rhizosphere and phytomicrobiome is still in infancy due to a lack of processes. And they require multidisciplinary efforts and convoluted interpretive perspectives for unveiling various processes of belowground interactions.
This research topic welcomes high-quality research articles, reviews, and mini-reviews that dissect the mechanisms and explores the inter-play of plant-microbe-rhizosphere interactions mediated by root exudation. The articles deciphering the following topics are encouraged and welcome, but not limited to:
- Rhizosphere activities, root exudation, microbial diversity, and transformation
- Plant signaling within the rhizosphere
- Molecular signaling including OMICS; approaches such as metabolomics, proteomics, and transcriptomics
- Plant-microbe associations under environmental cues
- Environmental hazards and Plant Microbiome
- Microbiomes in sustainable agriculture
- Advances and opinions in microbiome and plant stress tolerance through systemic resistance and genetic alterations
- Signaling molecules derived from microflora as antagonists towards stressors (secondary metabolites, phytohormones, organic acids etc.)
- Mechanistic pathways linked to root colonization of rhizosphere, quorum sensing, biofilm synthesis, root exudates, chemotaxis, etc.
- Tripartite interactions among roots-soil-microbes during stresses
- Root exudates and allelopathy
- Gene expression and plant molecular machinery in response to microbes during stresses
- Microbial-based fertilizers commercialization for sustainable agriculture
- Rhizobiome and plant defense system against pathogens
- Multiple-trophic rhizobiome composition, ecology, and nutrient cycles
- Regulatory means for soil and plant health system under stressful agricultural ecosystem.