Beneficial Plant–Fungal Interactions
A special issue of Pathogens (ISSN 2076-0817).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (1 June 2022) | Viewed by 33086
Special Issue Editors
Interests: polarity; genetics; microbial interactions; plant–pathogen interaction
Interests: chemotropism; fungal genetics; molecular biology; quorum sensing; microbiology
Interests: beneficial plant-microbe interactions; biological control; sustainable agriculture
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: plant protection; biocontrol; bioactive secondary metabolites; biopesticides; biostimulants; Trichoderma spp.; disease resistance; biofertilizers; host plant resistance; pest management
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Over the last century, a plethora of fungal microorganisms exerting beneficial effects on a wide variety of plant species have been described and characterized. Some of them enhance plant growth and yield production either by secreting volatile (VOCs) or nonvolatile metabolites or by directly interacting with plant roots and increasing nutrient availability or accessibility (i.e., fungal symbionts). Others modulate plant fitness indirectly through antibiosis, parasitism or competition with some of the biotic threats that compose the root microbiota and that continuously influence plant health throughout its entire life cycle (i.e., endophytes, entomopathogenic, mycoparasitic, and nematophagous fungi). Similarly, nonpathogenic isolates of closely related deadly pathogenic fungi offer protection to plants by modulating their resistance potential via induction of defense responses.
Despite major advances have been achieved in the last few decades on the modes of action employed by different beneficial fungal species, the molecular determinants of the crosstalk laying at the base of these fascinating fungal–plant or fungal–pathogen interactions are still far away from being clearly understood. Some of the main unresolved questions regard how and which microbial- or plant-derived signals mediate direct or indirect beneficial effects on plants and in microbiota composition. In this context, recent findings have also highlighted that harmed plants have the potential to reshape their root microbiome via the recruitment of beneficial microorganisms. Which fungal species act as plant “helpers” and the interkingdom dialogue occurring during plant–pathogen–helper tripartite interactions is still poorly understood.
In this context, Pathogens will launch a Special Issue devoted to “Beneficial Fungal Interactions with Plants or with Plant Pathogens”. This Special Issue will focus on those fungal species (and/or natural compounds) which mediate a positive effect on plant physiology or health status and will include both original research and review articles covering all aspects of the signaling events occurring among beneficial fungi, pathogens, and plants and leading to a positive output in terms of plant fitness (i.e., nutrient acquisition, growth promotion, and disease resistance).
Dr. David Turrà
Dr. Stefania Vitale
Dr. Sheridan Lois Woo
Dr. Francesco Vinale
Guest Editors
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Keywords
- beneficial fungi
- plant–microbe interaction
- fungus–microbe interaction
- mycoparasitism
- competition
- induced resistance
- plant growth promotion
- fungal symbiosis
- bioactive metabolites
- microbiota
- entomopathogenic fungi and nematophagous fungi
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