Microbial Volatiles and Their Role in Insect-Plant Associations

Dear colleagues,

Microbes have existed in nearly all ecosystems for millions of years. In planta, a plethora of microbes, mainly bacteria and fungi, have evolved with plants and play important roles in plant growth and health. The majority of these microbes produce a wide array of complex microbial volatile organic compounds (MVOCs). Although considerable progress has recently been made in our understanding of the roles of MVOCs in multitrophic interactions, their ecological functions for insects remain overlooked compared with those of plant volatiles. This Special Issue aims to highlight recent progress and new directions in our understanding of how MVOCs impact upon the searching behavior of insects. We hope to stimulate and lay a foundation for future exploitation of MVOCs as an ecofriendly, cost-effective, and sustainable strategy for insect pest management programs.

We invite the submission of high-quality original research papers and reviews covering any aspect of MVOC-mediated insect behavior.

Dr. Islam S. Sobhy
Dr. Marco Tasin
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. Insects 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 2600 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.

• microbial volatiles
• foraging
• searching behaviour
• herbivory
• nectar microbes
• fermentations
• flower-visiting insects
• attraction
• mutualism
• allelochemicals