Plant–Microbial Interactions: Mechanisms and Impacts

Dear Colleagues,

The interactions between plants and fungal or microbial organisms are complex and combine different lifestyles, including saprophytic, pathogenic and symbiotic. Fungi interact positively or negatively with plants; beneficial plant-associated fungi assist their hosts by stimulating their growth, producing secondary metabolites, and improving their resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses, and in contrast, pathogenic fungi cause diseases and are one of the major threats that affect horticulture, agriculture, the environment, and food security. The role of fungi in both natural and managed ecosystem processes is obvious, with mycotaxa being key drivers of plant health. Another category of organisms that interact with plants is represented by bacteria, and the interaction between these can be either beneficial (mutualistic) or harmful.

The purpose of this Special Issue "Plant–Microbial Interactions: Mechanisms and Impacts" is to publish and communicate results and literature reviews related to the complex dynamic relationships arising from the interaction between plants and different categories of micro- and macrofungi or bacteria. This Special Issue welcomes the submission of studies that explore the effect of different fungi and bacteria on plants, including research in functions and roles of different species for plants, interactions under the changing environmental conditions, development of alternative technologies for chemical control, surveys on interaction mechanisms, general and particular impacts on horticultural yield, types of plant responses to fungal and microbial attacks, factors affecting the balance between mutualism and antagonism and the development of efficient diagnosis, monitoring, and management strategies.

Dr. Marius Stefan
Dr. Ana Cojocariu
Dr. Cristiana Virginia Petre
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Horticulturae is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2200 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• fungal and bacterial biology
• mutualism
• antagonism
• biological control
• crop protection
• plant defense response
• biopesticides