Soil ecosystems harbor a remarkable diversity of microorganisms that play vital roles in nutrient cycling, plant growth, and environmental detoxification. In the face of increasing challenges such as soil degradation, heavy metal pollution, and the accumulation of persistent organic pollutants, microbial communities offer sustainable and eco-friendly solutions for both soil health restoration and pollution remediation. This Research Topic aims to bring together cutting-edge research on both naturally occurring and synthetically engineered microbial communities that contribute to soil ecosystem functions. We welcome hypothesis-driven studies with strong experimental support, consistent with the scope of Microbiome-Based Technologies. Submissions should go beyond descriptive analyses and provide mechanistic insights supported by experimental validation.

We encourage studies exploring the native soil microbiome, plant–microbe interactions, and microbial processes involved in the degradation of organic pollutants and the transformation of heavy metals. Additionally, we highlight advances in synthetic microbial communities (SynComs), their applications in soil and plant systems, and the integration of multi-omics and artificial intelligence-assisted modeling tools to better understand, predict, and engineer microbial functions for environmental benefits. Please note that submissions involving AI or computational modeling are expected to be supported by empirical data or used to guide experimentally testable hypotheses. Similarly, multi-omics studies should move beyond 16S rRNA surveys and focus on functionally relevant, experimentally validated insights.

We invite contributions that address (but are not limited to) the following topics:
• Exploration and utilization of soil microbial resources, including isolation, functional screening, and ecological characterization.
• Microbe–plant interaction mechanisms that contribute to pollutant remediation, stress tolerance, and plant disease suppression.
• Microbial mechanisms driving the degradation of organic pollutants and the transformation or immobilization of heavy metals.
• Design, optimization, and deployment of synthetic microbial communities (SynComs) in soil and plant ecosystems.
• Applications of multi-omics tools (e.g., metagenomics, transcriptomics, metabolomics, proteomics) to decipher soil microbial functions and dynamics.
• Artificial intelligence (AI) assistance and computational modeling in microbial community engineering, prediction of consortia behavior, and ecological network analysis.

Are you interested in contributing a manuscript to this Research Topic?

Microbial Solutions for Soil Health and Remediation: From Natural Diversity to Engineered Communities