About this Research Topic

Background

The alarming levels of environmental contaminants are a worldwide threat and need to be addressed globally. These toxic contaminants consist of heavy metals, pharmaceutically active compounds, health care and personal care products, pesticides, and several nano-composites. They have a detrimental effect on the growth and physiology of agricultural crops and thus exhibit a potential threat to the environment and food safety. To overcome these damages, the analysis of toxic impact and uptake, transport, accumulation, and biotransformation mechanisms of these contaminants on agricultural crops is essential for developing efficient soil biological remediation strategies. The plant rhizosphere is an ecosystem of nutrient-rich soil surrounding the roots of a plant, allowing for symbiotic plant-microbe communication. A microbial community present within the rhizosphere is known as the rhizomicrobiome, which can include a variety of microorganisms that have been associated symbiotically with the plant and help in plant growth and development. The potential for using these plant and microbiome interactions for bioremediation still requires attention. The beneficial application of symbiotic plant-microbe interactions in contaminated agroecosystems management is gaining increasing attention as it can successfully contribute to detoxification of contaminated environments and enhancement of crop productivity and environmental sustainability.

This research topic aims to collect the recent advances on the effect of contaminants on plant physiological and biochemical processes and the analysis of the ecological dynamics in soil-plant-microbial systems. Plant microbiomes, especially rhizomicrobiomes, are capable of metabolizing a diverse group of environmental pollutants to a non-toxic form in an enzyme-assisted process. Additionally, these microorganisms also function as biomarkers of soil characteristics, quality, and health. Until now, researchers have studied plants or microbes separately, while their interactions as a whole are still unexplored. Exploration of the rhizomicrobiome by elucidating their probable interactions with plants can emerge as a novel and enticing area for enhanced bioremediation in a more economical, sustainable, and green manner. Moreover, bioengineering of synthetic microbial communities for plant growth promotion and bioremediation capabilities can open new doors for sustainable development. The recent advances in the area of metagenomics, genome editing, gene sequencing, transcriptomics, proteomics, and bioinformatics will further enable the understanding of plant-microbe interactions for effective degradation strategies.

In this Research Topic, we welcome all types of submissions, including original research, reviews, methodologies, mini-reviews, perspectives, and opinion articles in this field, including (but not limited to) the following topics:
1. Uptake, transport, risk assessment, and biological alterations of environmental contaminants in plants.
2. Physiological and molecular mechanisms adapted by plants to cope in contaminated environments.
3. The dynamics and interactions between plant and rhizospheric microbes in contaminated soils.
4. Application of metagenomics, transcriptomics, proteomics and bioinformatics for unraveling plant-microbe interactions.
5. Remediation mechanisms adapted by plants and their microbiomes for contaminants in agroecosystems.
6. Bioremediation of environmental contaminants in agroecosystems and its enzymatic basis.
7. Rhizosphere engineering for plant growth promotion and remediation of contaminants in agroecosystems.

Keywords: rhizomicrobiome, bioremediation, plant microbe interaction, rhizosphere engineering, pollutants

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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