Relationship Between Plant Microbiome and Immunity
A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Molecular Plant Sciences".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2025 | Viewed by 30
Special Issue Editor
Interests: plant immunity; root microbiome; plant resistance to parasites
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
You are all aware that microbial communities that are associated with rhizosphere of plant roots are nowadays widely recognized to have paramount importance for plant performance against abiotic and biotic stresses and for a healthy growth. The term microbiome refers to a microbial community which occupies a well-defined habitat that can be distinguished by specific physico-chemical properties. Plants undergoing abiotic, pest- and pathogen-induced stresses actively seek and select from the environments beneficial microorganisms, mainly plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), to enhance and strengthen their immunity response. Microbiomes also assist plants in improving the mobilization of nutrients in soil for root uptake and in enhancing their tolerance to environmental stresses. There is an increasing need of investigations about how the plant immune system or the secretion of selective metabolites affects the microbiome and how microbiome affects the plant immune system. Another topic we want to focus on in this Special Issue is the impact of treatments with plant immune hormones, such as jasmonic, salicylic, abscisic acids and ethylene, on the composition of microbiomes and, consequently, on the immune response to pathogen and pest attacks. Moreover, it is generally known that plants recognize microbe-associated molecular patterns (MAMPs) by cell surface-localized pattern recognition receptors (PRRs). We invite to submit studies on possible interference of microbiome in this recognition and on signaling events leading to the so-called MAMP-triggered immunity (MTI), characterized by ion (Ca2+, H+) fluxes and transient oxidative bursts produced by a higher generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Although a consistent amount of research has been done so far, the molecular, genetic, and epigenetic mechanisms by which immunity is triggered by a suitable microbiome are far to be completely revealed.
Therefore, the scope of this issue is to collect original research articles and up-to-date reviews on the above-mentioned relationship between microbiome and plant immune response to biotic as well as tolerance to abiotic stresses.
I look forward to receiving your contributions.
Dr. Sergio Molinari
Guest Editor
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Keywords
- microbiome
- plant immune system
- rhizosphere of plant roots
- microbe-associated molecular patterns (MAMPs)
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