Climate change represents a major challenge for agriculture and food security. One of the unfavorable and the most limiting factors of plant growth is soil salinity. Halophytes and halo-tolerant plants are adapted to natural saline environments. Therefore, detailed knowledge on the strategies performed by halophytes to cope with harmful environment is essential to produce plants well adapted to changing environment. Although, many already performed studies led to the identification of various adaptive responses to salinity stress, the mechanisms underlying salinity tolerance are far from being completely understood. The unexplored but promising area of halophytes adaptation to stress conditions is their interaction with microorganisms. The main goal of this issue is to bring closer and integrate the recent studies on different mechanisms by which microorganism promotes salt tolerance in plants. The combined data from genomic, transcriptomic, proteomic, and metabolomics studies, would be essential for the determination of the key pathways or processes controlled by microbial agents and resulting in salinity tolerance of plants.
The mechanism of tolerance to salinity relies on some physiological mechanism as the regulation of cellular ion homeostasis and osmotic pressure, the detoxification of reactive oxygen species, and alterations in membrane composition and secondary metabolites production. These mechanisms are common for other stresses, as heavy metals, UV light or biotic stress. The isolation, identification, and studies of the functions of new genes related to salt tolerance and using them to transform crops could be a promising approach to developing saline agriculture. Fungal symbionts and the plant-associated bacteria can cope with salt stress and contribute to salt tolerance. the use of halophilic inoculants enhances plant growth in salty soils, but the mechanisms for this growth stimulation are as yet not clear. The contribution of the symbiosis could be related to gene expression, or secondary metabolites production. The new findings can contribute to detect the role of symbionts in salt-tolerance and improve crop productivity.
This Research Topic aims to identify novel research findings on salinity tolerance in plants, especially focused on understanding the engagement of microorganism in physiological, biochemical and molecular mechanisms behind sensing, signaling and responses to salt stress in halophytes.
The scope of this topic includes:
• The role of mycorrhization in halophytes adaptation to the environment
• The role of endophytic bacteria to support salt tolerance
• The role of soil microbes to communicate with plant
• Metanalysis of halophytes with symbionts
• Chemical modifications of symbionts helpful to tolerate salinity in plants
• Defense genes activity in halophytes under endophytic symbiosis
• Root-soil interaction under salinity conditions
• Phytochemical profile in halophytes under endophytic symbiosis
• Genetic engineering of halophytes
• Salt stress signaling by plant-microbes interaction
• Antioxidant defense system in plants by microbial symbiosis
• Microbial fertilizers and crop yield under salinity
• Ion homeostasis under salinity and their modifications under microbial interactions.
Climate change represents a major challenge for agriculture and food security. One of the unfavorable and the most limiting factors of plant growth is soil salinity. Halophytes and halo-tolerant plants are adapted to natural saline environments. Therefore, detailed knowledge on the strategies performed by halophytes to cope with harmful environment is essential to produce plants well adapted to changing environment. Although, many already performed studies led to the identification of various adaptive responses to salinity stress, the mechanisms underlying salinity tolerance are far from being completely understood. The unexplored but promising area of halophytes adaptation to stress conditions is their interaction with microorganisms. The main goal of this issue is to bring closer and integrate the recent studies on different mechanisms by which microorganism promotes salt tolerance in plants. The combined data from genomic, transcriptomic, proteomic, and metabolomics studies, would be essential for the determination of the key pathways or processes controlled by microbial agents and resulting in salinity tolerance of plants.
The mechanism of tolerance to salinity relies on some physiological mechanism as the regulation of cellular ion homeostasis and osmotic pressure, the detoxification of reactive oxygen species, and alterations in membrane composition and secondary metabolites production. These mechanisms are common for other stresses, as heavy metals, UV light or biotic stress. The isolation, identification, and studies of the functions of new genes related to salt tolerance and using them to transform crops could be a promising approach to developing saline agriculture. Fungal symbionts and the plant-associated bacteria can cope with salt stress and contribute to salt tolerance. the use of halophilic inoculants enhances plant growth in salty soils, but the mechanisms for this growth stimulation are as yet not clear. The contribution of the symbiosis could be related to gene expression, or secondary metabolites production. The new findings can contribute to detect the role of symbionts in salt-tolerance and improve crop productivity.
This Research Topic aims to identify novel research findings on salinity tolerance in plants, especially focused on understanding the engagement of microorganism in physiological, biochemical and molecular mechanisms behind sensing, signaling and responses to salt stress in halophytes.
The scope of this topic includes:
• The role of mycorrhization in halophytes adaptation to the environment
• The role of endophytic bacteria to support salt tolerance
• The role of soil microbes to communicate with plant
• Metanalysis of halophytes with symbionts
• Chemical modifications of symbionts helpful to tolerate salinity in plants
• Defense genes activity in halophytes under endophytic symbiosis
• Root-soil interaction under salinity conditions
• Phytochemical profile in halophytes under endophytic symbiosis
• Genetic engineering of halophytes
• Salt stress signaling by plant-microbes interaction
• Antioxidant defense system in plants by microbial symbiosis
• Microbial fertilizers and crop yield under salinity
• Ion homeostasis under salinity and their modifications under microbial interactions.
