Rhizobia and Stress
A special issue of Agronomy (ISSN 2073-4395). This special issue belongs to the section "Soil and Plant Nutrition".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 June 2021) | Viewed by 2008
Special Issue Editor
Interests: Symbiotic plant microbe interaction;Rhizobia;Stress and environmental control of gene expression in bacteria;Symbiotic nitrogen fixation; Inoculum preparation; Agricultural applications; Dessication stress; Biological nitrogen fixation and cereals.
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Rhizobia are gram-negative soil bacteria that have the special ability to engage in symbiotic interactions with leguminous plants (mainly) and form special structures on the roots and sometimes stems of these hosts. In these “nodules”, the rhizobia differentiate within plant cells into “bacteroids” and convert atmospheric N2 into ammonia, which the plant can assimilate for selective growth. Nitrogen fixation, both natural and synthetic, is essential for all forms of life, as nitrogen is required to biosynthesize the basic building blocks of plants, animals, and other life forms, e.g., nucleotides for DNA and RNA and amino acids for proteins. Therefore, nitrogen fixation is essential for agriculture and fertilizer production, which is an energy-consuming process occurring at high temperatures and pressures and generating CO2 and NOx gasses and nitrate, which can pollute the waterways. Thus, biological nitrogen production is a very valuable and environmentally friendly alternative. Plants that are nodulated by rhizobia contribute to nitrogen fixation and include the family Fabaceae, with taxa such as kudzu, clovers, soybeans, alfalfa, lupines, and peanuts. In many traditional and organic farming practices, fields are rotated through various types of crops, usually consisting of mainly or entirely clover, alfalfa, or buckwheat (the nonlegume family Polygonaceae), which are often referred to as "green manure". Legumes also include major food and feed crop species, for example, soybeans, peas, clovers, chickpeas, alfalfa, and mungbeans. They represent the third largest group of angiosperms and are the second largest food- and feed-crop group grown globally. They are cultivated on 12%–15% of available arable land and are responsible for more than 25% of the world’s primary crop production, with 247 million tons of grain legumes being produced annually. Thus, rhizobial interaction is of major agronomical interest. Rhizobia have been studied in detail in both free-living and symiotic states, and the genes encoding the essential nitrogenase enzyme, cofactors, and regulatory circuits in response to stress and other environmental cues have been identified. This is especially important for the inoculum industry and the uses of rhizobial strains in agriculture, either on coated seeds and in furrow applications. Stress (resistance) in rhizobia in inocula will be covered in this Special Issue of Agronomy. In addition, stress resistance in plants, both in the rhizosphere and within plant cells, in the bacteroid state will be addressed. For this purpose, the Sinorhizobium (Ensifer)meliloti–Medicago truncatula model will be employed.
Prof. Dr. Frans Johannes de Bruijn
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- rhizobium
- rhizobia
- environmental stress
- legume plants
- nodulation
- bacteroids
- inocula
- dessication
- oxygen stress
- nitrogen stress
- carbon stress
- acid stress
- heavy metal stress
- drought stress
- heat stress
- double stranded DNA repair
- RpoS
- RpoD
- RpoE
- alkali stress
- phytoremediation
