About this Research Topic
In recent years, non-pathogenic microorganisms have garnered increasing attention for their positive effects on plants, aligning with the demands to develop sustainable strategies to mitigate the impact of the current climate crisis. Several examples of microorganism-plant symbiotic relationships have been explored. For instance, the well-known associations of plant roots with mycorrhizal fungi or nitrogen-fixing bacteria enhance nutrient uptake and thus improve plant fitness.
In addition, the plant microbiota can prevent dysbiosis and suppress pathogen proliferation. In terms of modes of action, pathogen suppression can be classified into two main categories. The first involves antagonism between symbiotic microbes and pathogens with overlapping niches, causing direct interactions such as parasitism, chemical warfare through the production of antibiotics, competition for resources, or priority effects. The second mode of action is through priming, in which microbes induce a resistance response in plants that can counteract a secondary pathogenic invasion. However, this may also impact the proliferation of beneficial microorganisms.
Crop disease outbreaks depend not only on the host plant and the pathogen virulence but also on environmental conditions such as soil characteristics, microbial activity, and community composition. Under certain circumstances, diseases are suppressed due to the collective interactions among microbes, between plants and microbes, or within the plant-microbiome-environment system. We are interested in unraveling the complex interaction mechanisms of plants associated with bacterial and fungal microbes involved in pathogen suppression, with particular emphasis on symbiotic interactions.
This Research Topic aims to gather recent discoveries and innovative approaches across various aspects of microbial-pathogen suppression. Its focus will be unraveling the ecological, physiological, cellular, and molecular mechanisms associated with pathogen suppression by plant-associated microbiota.
We welcome submissions of different types of manuscripts, including original research papers and reviews, including but not limited to:
• Interactions between single plant-pathogenic-beneficial species
• Interactions involving synthetic communities and plants
• Comparative plant microbiome studies (changes in the microbiome induced by environment, management, ectopic microbes, among others)
• Studies on microbe protection or plant defense induction mechanisms within these interactions
We strongly encourage studies involving the functional analysis of key genes activated during these symbiotic interactions and multidisciplinary approaches.
Keywords: Pathogen suppression, Plant defense mechanisms, Microbial-pathogen interactions, Plant microbiome, Beneficial microorganisms
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.