Molecular Plant-Biotic Interactions

Dear Colleagues,

Plants constantly interact with a diversity of biotic factors, such as disease-causing bacteria, viruses, fungi, and nematodes, as well as pests such as arthropods (insects, mites), slugs, snails, etc. Due to their sessile nature, plants cannot escape disease-causing pathogens, herbivorous pests, and various abiotic disturbances. Thus, they evolved specialized genetic, molecular, and biochemical mechanisms to limit tissue damage and promote plant survival. Nevertheless, if crop and pasture species are affected, plant pathogens and pests can severely impact global food production, public health, and stability of ecosystems. A better understanding of plant defense mechanisms at molecular level can inform efficient pathogen/pest control protocols.

On the other hand, plants can benefit from symbiotic associations with soil microbes. Communities of plant microbiomes promote growth and health, and influence plants’ ability to cope with various environmental cues. Needed in large amounts, yet, not readily available, nitrogen and phosphorous are limiting nutrients for plant growth. Molecular nitrogen (N2) from the air cannot be used, unless it is reduced (fixed) to ammonium, an exclusively prokaryotic process carried out by soil bacteria collectively known as rhizobia. Legumes acquire reduced nitrogen through associations with rhizobia, thus, are less reliant upon nitrogenous fertilizers. Not all nitrogen-fixing symbioses are equally effective; therefore, gaining more insight into the molecular basis of this association could facilitate better agricultural practices. Most plants can acquire phosphate through symbiosis with arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi, and a better understanding of this process could inform low-input agriculture.

Next generation sequencing (NGS) technologies and high-throughput experimental designs enable researchers to address complex questions in the field of plant–biotic interactions. These technologies are also instrumental in studying biotic interactions of non-model plants, genomics and metagenomics of individual microbes and whole microbial communities respectively, with potential to uncover novel molecular mechanisms of host-microbe (or other biotic factors) interactions. Transcriptomic platforms help elucidate new regulatory mechanisms and biochemical pathways modulated under specific conditions. The Special Issue on “Molecular Plant–Biotic Interactions! will focus on applications of high-throughput and NGS technologies in better understanding various plant–biotic factor interactions. Manuscripts focused on challenges in using NGS technologies to answer such biological questions are also welcome.

Dr. Catalina Pislariu
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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• Plant microbiome
• Plant growth promoting microbes
• Symbiotic nitrogen fixation
• Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi
• Plant-biotic interactions
• Plant-pathogen interactions
• Symbiotic interactions
• High-throughput approaches
• Genomics and functional genomics
• Next generation sequencing (NGS)
• Transcriptomics
• RNA-Seq