Plants accommodate complex microbial communities (microbiomes) in the rhizosphere and the plant endosphere, and the phyllosphere hosts distinct microbiota. Recently, our understanding of plants has dramatically changed as they are no longer comprehended as individual genetic entities but rather as holobionts whereby the genome of the macro-organism acts in consortia with the sum of the genomes of the microbiome, as a hologenome. Therefore, a plant’s molecular and metabolic changes and phenotype are highly linked to the hologenome.
Abiotic and biotic stresses are major factors limiting plant distribution and crop production worldwide. The situation is aggravated due to the drastic and rapid changes in the global climate. Microbes harboring the plant microbiomes are linked with several beneficial functions to the host plant, including the ability to mediate stress tolerance.
Microbial-mediated stress tolerance in plants is a bilateral process and often depends on several factors including plant genotypes, bacterial strain, and microbiome functions. Hence, multi-layers holobionts cross talks involving complex plant and microbial molecular, metabolic, and physiological changes are expected to take place during successful plant-microbe interactions. Overall, an in-depth functional understanding of the holobionts cross talks leads to the microbial ability to mediate stress tolerance. This is critically required to enable the development of microbial approaches as a viable option to mitigate the adverse effects of climatic change.
We encourage the submission of research and review articles that:
• Address the holobionts' functions during microbial-mediated abiotic and biotic stress tolerance in plants
• Employ multi-omics approaches to decipher plant and microbial factors involved in microbial-mediated abiotic and biotic stress tolerance in plants
• Provide novel insights about the role of the plant microbiomes’ assembly and functions in microbial-mediated abiotic and biotic stress tolerance in plants
• Enable the development of a microbial-based approach to improve stress tolerance
Plants accommodate complex microbial communities (microbiomes) in the rhizosphere and the plant endosphere, and the phyllosphere hosts distinct microbiota. Recently, our understanding of plants has dramatically changed as they are no longer comprehended as individual genetic entities but rather as holobionts whereby the genome of the macro-organism acts in consortia with the sum of the genomes of the microbiome, as a hologenome. Therefore, a plant’s molecular and metabolic changes and phenotype are highly linked to the hologenome.
Abiotic and biotic stresses are major factors limiting plant distribution and crop production worldwide. The situation is aggravated due to the drastic and rapid changes in the global climate. Microbes harboring the plant microbiomes are linked with several beneficial functions to the host plant, including the ability to mediate stress tolerance.
Microbial-mediated stress tolerance in plants is a bilateral process and often depends on several factors including plant genotypes, bacterial strain, and microbiome functions. Hence, multi-layers holobionts cross talks involving complex plant and microbial molecular, metabolic, and physiological changes are expected to take place during successful plant-microbe interactions. Overall, an in-depth functional understanding of the holobionts cross talks leads to the microbial ability to mediate stress tolerance. This is critically required to enable the development of microbial approaches as a viable option to mitigate the adverse effects of climatic change.
We encourage the submission of research and review articles that:
• Address the holobionts' functions during microbial-mediated abiotic and biotic stress tolerance in plants
• Employ multi-omics approaches to decipher plant and microbial factors involved in microbial-mediated abiotic and biotic stress tolerance in plants
• Provide novel insights about the role of the plant microbiomes’ assembly and functions in microbial-mediated abiotic and biotic stress tolerance in plants
• Enable the development of a microbial-based approach to improve stress tolerance
