About this Research Topic

Background

To cope with nutrient deficiencies, plants develop morphological and physiological responses, mainly in their roots, aimed to facilitate nutrient acquisition. In the last years, it has been found that some rhizosphere microbes can induce physiological and morphological responses in roots of dicot plants similar to the ones induced by plants under nutrient deficiencies. Remarkably, these rhizosphere microbes are also capable of eliciting the Induced Systemic Resistance (ISR) against pathogens and insects. This observation suggests that both processes (ISR and nutrient deficiency responses) are closely interconnected and opens new possibilities for optimizing the management of the rhizosphere microbiota for improving mineral nutrition and health. However, the nodes of convergence between the two processes remain unclear. Elucidating the main nodes of interconnection between the pathways regulating microbe-elicited ISR and minerals uptake is critical for optimizing the use of plant mutualistic microbes in agriculture.

The ability of ISR-eliciting microbes to trigger both defense responses and nutrient deficiency responses opens the possibility to use them as biopesticides and as nutrient biofertilizers. This presents a very important opportunity to reduce the application of fertilizers and pesticides for a more sustainable agriculture. However, the use of ISR-eliciting microbes is in its infancy since the behavior of these microbes on crops grown in soils is not sufficiently known. Most research about the relationship of these microbes with plant mineral nutrition has been carried out using Arabidopsis plants grown on agar plates. For application of ISR microbes to crop plants in the field, it also is also necessary to study the behavior of these microbes with plant species growing in soils, including their capacity to thrive in these soils and to compete with wild soil microbes.
Papers submitted to this article collection must report new results and the latest findings related to the roles of ISR eliciting microbes on mineral nutrition in crops.
We particularly welcome manuscripts dealing with the following topics:

• New non-symbiotic microbes able to induce responses aimed to facilitate nutrient acquisition.
• Symbiotic microbes (mycorrhizal fungi, nitrogen fixing bacteria...) able to induce gene expression related to nutrient deficiency responses.
• Cross-talk with hormone signalling implicated in nutrient deficiency responses regulation.
• Methods for the application of ISR eliciting microbes: by soil inoculation, plantlet root immersion, seed coating or irrigation.
• Effects of the inoculation of individual versus multiple species microbial consortia.

All forms of submissions (i.e. original research papers, Mini Reviews, Methods, Perspectives, Hypothesis and Theories, and Opinion Articles) are welcome.

Keywords: Nutrient deficiency, ISR eliciting microbes, Crops, Soil, Microbial consortia

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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