This Research Topic is part of the Effects of Plant-Microbiome Interactions on Phyto- and Bio-Remediation Capacity series:
Effects of Plant-Microbiome Interactions on Phyto- and Bio-Remediation CapacityRemediation of environments contaminated by organic or inorganic pollutants requires ecologically and economically sustainable strategies to restore quality levels compatible with the health and survival of living organisms. Phyto- and bio-remediation are environmental-friendly technologies, largely employed as an alternative to traditional methods, and exploit the ability of some plant species and their associated beneficial microorganisms to act synergistically to remove pollutants.
Plants host diverse beneficial microbial communities associated with the rhizosphere, phyllosphere, and endosphere. Every plant species is characterized by specific microbiomes whose composition is influenced by several factors, including plant age, developmental stage, species or cultivar, and health state. In addition, a multitude of biotic and abiotic factors modulate the structural and functional diversity of the plant-associated microbiome, including soil properties, nutrient status, pollution, stresses, and climatic conditions. Experimental evidence that led to the identification of plant species and varieties that are promising tools in the remediation of polluted environments also highlighted the importance of the plant microbiome in this process. It is now clear that the plant host can control the composition of its microbiome, establishing symbiotic association with microbes that directly benefit plant growth and health and favors decontamination and stress tolerance. Recent Omics approaches -including metagenomics, metatranscriptomics, and metaproteomics, which allow the assessment and comparison of microbiome populations and communities, have shed light on the molecular basis of pollutant accumulation and stress tolerance in plants. Moreover, these tools also allowed to investigate how the interactions between plants and microbes can be modified to maximize plants' phytoremediation capacity and tolerance to contaminants.
In this Research Topic, we welcome manuscripts focused on symbiotic plant-microbe interaction, in general, and on the dynamics of the microbial communities in response to soil contamination, as well as on genetic, biochemical, and physiological characterizations of microbes useful for phytoremediation purposes and of the stress response of the plant-microbe interaction. In particular, we aim to collect manuscripts on the following subjects:
• The diversity of plant-associated symbionts with contaminant detoxifying abilities in the rhizosphere/endosphere
• Biological models to elucidate the driving and competitive forces that lead to the establishment of a rhizosphere/endosphere microbiome with phytoremediation capacities
• Selection of plants for their broader interaction with the microbiome and harnessing the nutritional and signaling events between plant and microorganisms
• Molecular identification of genes, pathways, metabolites involved in stress responses and tolerance mechanism of host-microbe systems
• Phyto- and bio-remediation in microbial-assisted field trials