Linking Plant Root Exudation Traits to Rhizosphere Biology
A special issue of Plants (ISSN 2223-7747). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant Protection and Biotic Interactions".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 February 2023) | Viewed by 6627
Special Issue Editors
Interests: rhizosphere; microbiome; root exudation; nitrogen cycle; dentrification; plant growth; carbon catabolic repression
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: rhizosphere; pseudomonas; extracellular vesicles; noncoding RNAs; plant–bacteria interaction
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: plant microbiota; plant–microbe interactions; metagenomics; biological control; microbial VOCs
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The ability to secrete a wide range of compounds into the rhizosphere is one of the most remarkable metabolic features of plant roots, with nearly 5% to 21% of all photosynthetically fixed carbon being transferred to the rhizosphere through root exudates. The quantity and quality of root exudates are determined by plant species, the age of an individual plant, and external factors such as biotic and abiotic stressors. Root exudation is an important functional trait of host plants and essential for plant–microbe interactions. By exudation of a wide variety of compounds, roots can actively regulate the microbiota in their immediate vicinity, cope with herbivores, initiate beneficial symbioses, change the chemical and physical properties of the soil, and inhibit the growth of competing plant species. In recent decades, beneficial microorganisms have been shown to play crucial roles in plant health, nutrition, and productivity. In addition to providing a carbon-rich environment, it is known that plant roots initiate cross-talk with soil microbial communities by producing signals that initiate colonization; however, many details related to mechanisms and dynamics in such interactions remain to be deciphered.
In this Research Topic, we will explore how plants interact and mediate communication with soil organisms via various root exudation traits. In detail, we aim to understand how plants shape microbiome diversity and function through root exudation of primary and secondary metabolites. Original research articles that investigate changes in plant root exudates and their impact on plant microbiome composition and function with relevance for plant health and nutrition are requested on topics including but not limited to:
- Changes in root exudate composition/quantity as a response to various biotic/abiotic factors and their impact on the plant microbiome;
- Genetic manipulation of plants and its impact on root exudates and the plant microbiome;
- Mechanistic insights into microbial community emergence and development as a specific response to root exudates;
- Dynamics of soil organism communities as a response to changes in composition/quantity of root exudates;
- Impact of the introduction of microbial inoculants on the nature of exudates, microbiota assembly, functions and interaction networks.
Untangling the role of specific root exudation traits in regulating microbiome diversity and function will facilitate the discovery of novel molecules to deliberately modulate the plant microbiome and hence improve plant health and nutrition.
Dr. Feth El Zahar Haichar
Dr. Wafa Achouak
Dr. Tomislav Cernava
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- plant microbiome
- plant–microbe interactions
- root exudation
- rhizosphere
- microbial diversity
- microbial functioning
