Symbiotic Nitrogen Fixation for Sustainable Agriculture

Dear Colleagues,

I would like to invite you to contribute to a Special Issue of the journal Agriculture entitled “Symbiotic Nitrogen Fixation for Sustainable Agriculture” under the section Crop Production.

Nitrogen is a major limiting resource of plant growth in agricultural production. The practice of input-driven intensive agriculture to feed the ever-growing population has led to excessive use of nitrogenous fertilizers, which has resulted in ecological disasters in many parts of the world. Contemporary efforts in sustainable agriculture to address this nitrogen shortage have turned to biological nitrogen fixation as a biotechnological solution. Legumes have the ability to establish a mutualistic association with soil bacteria known as rhizobia which form root nodules, inside of which atmospheric dinitrogen is reduced into assimilable forms and supplied to host plants. However, non-legumes (with few exceptions) lack the ability to associate with diazotrophs to meet their nitrogen demands. While the most efficient processes for biological nitrogen fixation occur in symbioses between nitrogen-fixing rhizobial bacteria and plants in the Leguminosae family, less efficient yet simpler processes have arisen in plant evolution that may serve as tractable candidates to contemporary bioengineering. These simpler symbioses have the potential to be developed as new model systems using recent advancements in the fields of ‘omics’. Over the past two decades, elegant genetic, genomic, and biochemical studies have been conducted on legume nodulation to decipher the intricacies of this unique plant–microbe association.

This Special Issue intends to summarize the recent progress in the elucidation of biological nitrogen fixation pertaining to root nodule symbioses, legume–rhizobia symbiotic signaling, rhizobial infection, actinorhizal symbiotic signaling, nodule organogenesis, nitrogen assimilation, and nodule senescence. Submission of manuscripts on studies that utilize biochemical, genetic, pharmacological, genomic approaches to further our knowledge in the area of root nodule symbioses and symbiotic nitrogen fixation, and reviews that discuss the scope of transferring the legume–rhizobia symbiotic signaling to non-legumes is strongly encouraged. All types of articles, original research, opinions, and reviews that provide new insights into legume–rhizobia symbiosis are welcome.

Thank you for considering my request to submit your manuscripts to this Special Issue. I look forward to receiving your contributions.

Please let me know if you need any additional information.

Dr. Muthu Venkateshwaran
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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