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Advanced Research in Plant–Fungus Interactions: Second Edition
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Advanced Research in Plant–Fungus Interactions: Second Edition

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: 20 October 2025 | Viewed by 6081

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Jiangyun Gao

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute of Biodiversity, School of Ecology and Environmental Science, Yunnan University, Kunming 650500, China
Interests: plant-fungi interactions
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue is a continuation of our previous Special Issue, titled “Advanced Research in Plant–Fungi Interactions”, available at: (https://www.mdpi.com/journal/ijms/special_issues/184P96ZBIG).

In the past decades, plant–fungus interactions, including mycorrhizal, parasitic, or endophytic lifestyles, have had some of their aspects be extensively studied, resulting in great improvements in our understanding. Among them, the symbiotic association of mycorrhiza is commonly found in most vascular plants, mainly including arbuscular mycorrhiza, ectomycorrhiza, ericoid mycorrhiza, and orchid mycorrhiza. Mycorrhizal fungi benefit most plants by enhancing their nutrient access and stress tolerance, and therefore strongly affect plant population and community biology by regulating seedling establishment and species coexistence. In this Special Issue, interactions between plants and fungi will be considered. This includes, but is not limited to, functional omics, molecular communication, coevolution, ecological adaption, and nutrient modes of plant–fungi interactions, as well as applications of fungi for sustainable environmental management and plant conservation.

This Special Issue, titled “Advanced Research in Plant–Fungus Interactions: Second Edition”, is open to all researchers studying this interaction at any level, from both the plant and fungi side. Papers are welcome to be submitted in the form of original research articles, as well as review papers dealing with the advancements in and current understanding of various aspects of plant–fungus interactions.

Dr. Jiangyun Gao
Guest Editor

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. International Journal of Molecular Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. There is an Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal. For details about the APC please see here. 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.

Keywords

  • plant–fungus interactions
  • symbiotic association
  • endophytes
  • plant conservation
  • mycorrhizal symbioses

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

17 pages, 13800 KiB  
Article
Endophytic Colonization of Beauveria bassiana Enhances Drought Stress Tolerance in Tomato via “Water Spender” Pathway
by Wenbo Guo, Yang Lu, Song Du, Qiyun Li, Xiaowei Zou, Zhengkun Zhang and Li Sui
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2024, 25(22), 11949; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms252211949 - 7 Nov 2024
Viewed by 2308
Abstract
Drought stress is one of the most important climate-related factors affecting crop production. Tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum L.) are economically important crops which are highly sensitive to drought. The entomopathogenic fungus Beauveria bassiana, a widely used biological insecticide, can form symbiotic relationships [...] Read more.
Drought stress is one of the most important climate-related factors affecting crop production. Tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum L.) are economically important crops which are highly sensitive to drought. The entomopathogenic fungus Beauveria bassiana, a widely used biological insecticide, can form symbiotic relationships with plants via endophytic colonization, increasing plant biomass and the ability to resist biotic stress. Under simulated drought stress conditions, the biomass of tomato seedlings such as plant height, root length, stem diameter, fresh weight, and relative water content, as well as the density and size of stomata in tomato leaves were significantly increased after B. bassiana colonization via root irrigation (p < 0.05). Meanwhile, the physicochemical properties associated with drought resistance such as peroxidase activity and proline content increased significantly (p < 0.05), while malondialdehyde reduced significantly (p < 0.05), and the expression levels of key genes related to stomatal development and drought tolerance pathways increased significantly (p < 0.05). These results indicate that the colonization of B. bassiana enhances the water absorption capacity of tomato seedlings and the rate of transpiration significantly and increases drought tolerance in tomato via the “water spender” pathway, which provides a new strategy for improving crop resistance to drought stress. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Research in Plant–Fungus Interactions: Second Edition)
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14 pages, 5495 KiB  
Article
Genome-Wide Identification, Characterization, and Expression Analysis of the MYB-R2R3 Gene Family in Black Pepper (Piper nigrum L.)
by Rui Fan, Kai Huang, Zhican Zhao, Yupeng Hao, Xueying Guan, Haiyan Luo and Chaoyun Hao
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2024, 25(18), 9851; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms25189851 - 12 Sep 2024
Viewed by 1784
Abstract
Black pepper (Piper nigrum L.), a prominent spice crop, known as the “king of spices”, originated from India. The growth and development of black pepper are influenced by various environmental conditions. MYB transcription factors play a crucial role in controlling metabolic processes, [...] Read more.
Black pepper (Piper nigrum L.), a prominent spice crop, known as the “king of spices”, originated from India. The growth and development of black pepper are influenced by various environmental conditions. MYB transcription factors play a crucial role in controlling metabolic processes, abiotic stress management, and plant growth and development. In this study, we identified 160 PnMYB transcription factors in the black pepper genome. Phylogenetic analysis was performed using 125 R2R3-MYB proteins from black pepper and Arabidopsis thaliana, resulting in the mapping of 20 groups on the phylogenetic tree, each containing members from both species. Most members of the PnMYB family possess two introns, and motif 3 and motif 4 are conserved in all members. The number of genes on each chromosome ranges from 1 to 10. Collinear analysis indicated the creation of new members through gene fragments and tandem replication. The Ka/Ks ratio indicated that purifying selection and positive selection acted on PnMYB of pepper. The majority of pepper PnMYB family members were in the nucleus. Significant differences in gene expression levels were observed between different species and infection periods when Piper nigrum L. and Piper flaviflorum were infected with Phytophthora capsici. These findings are valuable for future studies on the biological role and molecular mechanism of the PnMYB gene. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Research in Plant–Fungus Interactions: Second Edition)
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12 pages, 3023 KiB  
Article
DHXT1, a Virulence Factor of Dactylellina haptotyla, Regulates Pathogenicity by Participating in Trap Formation and Metabolite Synthesis
by Xing-Fu Wen, Ting-Ting Shi, Ya-Qi Zhang, Si-Han Wang, Chun-Mei Xiang and Pei-Ji Zhao
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2024, 25(13), 7384; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms25137384 - 5 Jul 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1137
Abstract
The capsule-associated protein 10 gene (CAP10) is indispensable due to its involvement in pod formation and virulence maintenance in Cryptococcus neoformans. The function of the CAP10 gene in nematode-predatory fungi remains unreported. As a typical nematode-trapping fungus, Dactylellina haptotyla efficiently [...] Read more.
The capsule-associated protein 10 gene (CAP10) is indispensable due to its involvement in pod formation and virulence maintenance in Cryptococcus neoformans. The function of the CAP10 gene in nematode-predatory fungi remains unreported. As a typical nematode-trapping fungus, Dactylellina haptotyla efficiently captures nematodes using adhesive knobs, which has potential applications in the biological control of plant-parasitic nematodes. In this study, we investigated the function of DHXT1 (a CAP10 homologous protein) in D. haptotyla–nematode interactions based on the disruption and overexpression of DHXT1, phenotypic analysis and metabolomic analysis. As a result, it was shown that the disruption of the DHXT1 gene causes a marked decrease in the number of adhesive knobs, and on the contrary, the overexpression of the DHXT1 gene causes a substantial increase in the number of adhesive knobs. Interestingly, the variety of metabolites increased with the disruption of the DHXT1 and decreased with the overexpression of the DHXT1 gene. The results suggest that DHXT1 effects pathogenicity through its involvement in adhesive knobs’ formation and metabolite synthesis and serves as a key virulence factor in D. haptotyla. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Research in Plant–Fungus Interactions: Second Edition)
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