Shekhar Jain
Anukool Vaishnav
Devendra Kumar Choudhary- 1Faculty of Life Sciences, Mandsaur University, Mandsaur, Madhya Pradesh, India
- 2Department of Biotechnology, GLA University, Mathura, Uttar Pradesh, India
- 3Amity Institute of Microbial Technology, Amity University, Noida, India
Editorial on the Research Topic
Climate impact on plant holobiont: mitigation strategies and sustainability, volume II
Introduction
As the global climate crisis accelerates, it becomes increasingly clear that the future of our planet's ecosystems hinges on understanding complex biological interactions (Fletcher et al., 2024). The plant holobiont, comprising the host plant and its associated microbial communities, is crucial for plant health, growth, and resilience. However, climate change is disrupting this delicate relationship, influencing temperature, precipitation patterns, and the occurrence of extreme weather events (Noman et al., 2021). These environmental shifts can disturb plant-microbe interactions, leading to both biotic and abiotic stress, reduced agricultural productivity, and biodiversity loss. Climate-induced changes in soil moisture and nutrient availability can also alter the composition and functioning of the plant microbiome, often diminishing the plant's capacity to withstand stressors like drought, diseases, and pests (Vaishnav et al., 2023).
Mitigation strategies that focus on the plant holobiont are vital for addressing climate change challenges and promoting sustainability. Key measures include utilizing beneficial microbes like plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) and mycorrhizal fungi to enhance plant stress tolerance (Jain et al., 2018). Sustainable farming practices such as crop rotation, organic farming, and reduced chemical inputs further support healthy plant-microbe relationships by preserving soil biodiversity (Choudhary et al., 2016). Innovations in microbial inoculants, precision agriculture, and genetic engineering also offer promising avenues for optimizing holobiont resilience under climate stress, ensuring both agricultural and ecosystem sustainability (Marco et al., 2022).
The first volume of Climate impact on plant holobiont presented 16 papers, including reviews and original research (Choudhary et al., 2023). The second volume, Climate impact on plant holobiont: mitigation strategies and sustainability, continues this crucial discussion. It explores plant-microbe relationships under climate stress and provides actionable strategies for promoting sustainability in agriculture and ecosystems. Comprising six research articles, this volume delves into the inter-relationship between plants, microbes, and climate change, offering insights for developing mitigation strategies.
Climate impact
Greenhouse gas emissions, particularly nitrous oxide (N2O), are significant drivers of global climate change. Nitrogen, a key element for all living organisms, plays a vital role in plant nutrition by enhancing crop biomass and grain yields (Jain et al., 2021). However, nitrogen fertilizers also alter soil microbial communities, particularly denitrifying bacteria, which can increase N2O emissions, a potent greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming and ozone depletion. A recent study examined the relationships between nitrogen fertilization, soil denitrification, N2O emissions, potential denitrification activity, and maize nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) in semi-arid regions. The findings revealed that while higher nitrogen fertilization improved maize productivity and NUE, it also elevated N2O emissions by modifying the composition and interactions of denitrifying microbes containing the nirS and nosZ genes in soils. Therefore, the fertilizer optimization is crucial for the plant growth and climate sustainability. The study concluded that 200 kg N ha−1 yr−1 is optimal for balancing increased maize yield with reduced N2O emissions in China's semi-arid Loess Plateau (Fudjoe et al.).
Ecosystem parameters like soil, microbial communities, and climate are interconnected, and understanding their relationship is key to sustainable management and conservation (Aqeel et al., 2023). The research study on seasonal climate fluctuations shows that soil properties and microbial populations vary with seasons, significantly influencing soil conditions and microbial activity. During summer, soil pH, moisture, electrical conductivity, and organic carbon content were higher than in winter, primarily due to shifts in microbial activity (Solanki et al.). These insights are essential for biodiversity conservation and ecosystem management, particularly in tropical dry deciduous forests.
Plant-microbe interaction
Genome sequencing of pathogens is crucial for understanding pathogenicity genes and host-pathogen interactions (Gurjar et al., 2022). In a study on the whole genome sequencing of Tilletia caries, the pathogen responsible for common bunt in wheat, 10,255 protein-coding genes were identified. Annotation through the Pathogen-Host Interactions (PHI) database revealed that 48% of these genes were linked to reduced virulence, 32% to unaffected pathogenicity, 9% to loss of pathogenicity, 8% to lethality, and 3% to increased virulence. This research provides valuable insights into infection-related genes, contributing to future strategies for combating common bunt disease (Gurjar et al.).
In another study, transcriptome analysis of resistant and susceptible genotypes of Hordeum vulgare (barley) infected with Bipolaris sorokiniana, the pathogen causing spot blotch, was performed to explore host-pathogen dynamics. The results showed stronger activation of MAPK signaling, plant-pathogen interactions, and plant hormone signal transduction pathways in resistant genotypes, leading to elevated expression of defense and pathogenicity-related genes. In contrast, susceptible genotypes exhibited higher expression of B. sorokiniana pathogenicity genes. This study sheds light on the genetic factors involved in spot blotch resistance in barley, offering new insights into host-pathogen interactions (Basak et al.). These findings will assist in developing disease mitigation strategies for crop improvement.
Biocontrol of plant pathogens is a promising alternative to antimicrobial chemicals, promoting sustainable agriculture (Jain et al., 2018). In a study on controlling Ustilaginoidea virens, the soil-borne fungal pathogen causing rice false smut, rice rhizospheric isolates of Bacillus subtilis (BR_4), B. licheniformis (BU_7, BU_8), and B. vallismortis (KU_7) exhibited antimicrobial properties. Among these, B. vallismortis (KU_7) was the most effective, inhibiting 44.6% of U. virens growth. The talc-based formulation of B. vallismortis (KU_7) reduced disease incidence by 20%, increased biological yield by 60.5%, and boosted grain yield by 45% (Pandey et al.). Additionally, over a 3-year study, Integrated Pest Management (IPM) practices led to a significant rise in beneficial microbes like Trichoderma harzianum and Pseudomonas fluorescens, while reducing the presence of the pathogen Fusarium verticillioides in rice field soil. These results underscore the effectiveness of IPM in promoting plant health and controlling diseases compared to non-IPM practices (Khokhar et al.).
Conclusion
In conclusion, this second volume on the Climate Impact on Plant Holobiont provides a valuable addition to the earlier Research Topic. The papers in this Research Topic highlight the rapid progress in understanding the complex interactions between plants, microbes, and climate change, offering crucial knowledge for developing mitigation strategies and promoting sustainable agro-ecosystems.
Author contributions
SJ: Writing – original draft. AV: Writing – review & editing. DC: Writing – review & editing.
Funding
The author(s) declare that no financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Acknowledgments
Editors want to thank all contributors and reviewers to successfully compiled this Research Topic.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
The author(s) declared that they were an editorial board member of Frontiers, at the time of submission. This had no impact on the peer review process and the final decision.
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References
Aqeel, M., Ran, J., Hu, W., Irshad, M. K., Dong, L., Akram, M. A., et al. (2023). Plant-soil-microbe interactions in maintaining ecosystem stability and coordinated turnover under changing environmental conditions. Chemosphere 318:137924. doi: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2023.137924
Choudhary, D. K., Kasotia, A., Jain, S., Vaishnav, A., Kumari, S., Sharma, K. P., et al. (2016). Bacterial-mediated tolerance and resistance to plants under abiotic and biotic stresses. J. Plant Growth Regul. 35, 276–300. doi: 10.1007/s00344-015-9521-x
Choudhary, D. K., Vaishnav, A., Jain, S., Mandal, M. K., and Prasad, R. (2023). Climate impact on plant holobiont: mitigation strategies and sustainability. Front. Microbiol. 13:1040876. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2022.1040876
Fletcher, C., Ripple, W. J., Newsome, T., Barnard, P., Beamer, K., Behl, A., et al. (2024). Earth at risk: an urgent call to end the age of destruction and forge a just and sustainable future. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. Nexus 3:106. doi: 10.1093/pnasnexus/pgae106
Gurjar, M. S., Jain, S., Aggarwal, R., Saharan, M. S., Kumar, T. P. J., and Kharbikar, L. (2022). Transcriptome analysis of wheat-Tilletia indica interaction provides defense and pathogenesis-related genes. Plants 11:3061. doi: 10.3390/plants11223061
Jain, S., Vaishnav, A., Varma, A., and Choudhary, D. K. (2018). Comparative expression analysis of defence-related genes in Bacillus-treated Glycine max upon challenge inoculation with selective fungal phytopathogens. Curr. Sci. 115, 1950–1956. doi: 10.18520/cs/v115/i10/1950-1956
Jain, S., Varma, A., and Choudhary, D. K. (2021). Perspectives on nitrogen-fixing Bacillus species. Soil Nitr. Ecol. 18. 359–369. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-71206-8_18
Marco, S., Loredana, M., Riccardo, V., Raffaella, B., Walter, C., and Luca, N. (2022). Microbe-assisted crop improvement: a sustainable weapon to restore holobiont functionality and resilience. Horticult. Res. 9:uhac160. doi: 10.1093/hr/uhac160
Noman, M., Ahmed, T., Ijaz, U., Shahid, M., Azizullah, L.i, D., Manzoor, I., et al. (2021). Plant-microbiome crosstalk: dawning from composition and assembly of microbial community to improvement of disease resilience in plants. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 22:6852. doi: 10.3390/ijms22136852
Keywords: climate change, plant holobiont, bio-control, soil microbes, sustainable agriculture
Citation: Jain S, Vaishnav A and Choudhary DK (2024) Editorial: Climate impact on plant holobiont: mitigation strategies and sustainability, volume II. Front. Microbiol. 15:1503816. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2024.1503816
Received: 29 September 2024; Accepted: 10 October 2024;
Published: 21 October 2024.
Edited and reviewed by: Jesús Navas-Castillo, CSIC, Spain
Copyright © 2024 Jain, Vaishnav and Choudhary. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
*Correspondence: Shekhar Jain, jainshekhar08@gmail.com