Role of Beneficial Bacteria in Plant Growth and Health Promotion

A special issue of Plants (ISSN 2223-7747). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant Protection and Biotic Interactions".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 July 2026 | Viewed by 1191

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Guest Editor
Instituto de Investigaciones Químico Biológicas, Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo, Edifico B1, Ciudad Universitaria, Morelia 58030, México
Interests: plant microbe interactions; volatile organic compound; plant–bacteria and bacteria–bacteria signaling; plant growth promoting rhizobacteria; plant resistance to pathogens; rhizosphere microbiology; plant microbiome modulation; agricultural microbiology; biological nitrogen fixation symbiosis; endophytes; biocorrosion
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Since the beginning of plant lineage, plants have co-evolved with bacteria, establishing either beneficial or harmful relationships for the plants. Beneficial bacteria exert physiological functions that are complementary to plant physiology, increasing plant fitness to the challenges introduced by the changing ambient conditions and thus resulting in plant growth promotion.

Aside from elucidating the effects of new strains of bacterial species characterized by the promotion of plant growth, the present Special Issue aims to further contribute to this exciting field of study by analyzing the mechanisms involved in this bacterial–plant growth promoting effect including, but not limited to, the following: action mechanisms in the availability of nutrients; plant defense by priming; pathogen exclusion; volatile organic compound emissions; bacterial production of plant growth regulators; and synthetic community formulation. All of these mechanisms are analyzed through classical microbiology and plant morphometrics, biochemical, transcriptomic, and genomic approaches. Works examining new plant-beneficial bacteria are also welcome.

Submitted manuscripts must not have been previously published or currently under evaluation for publication in another journal.

Dr. Eduardo Valencia-Cantero
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • bacterial phytostimulation
  • bacterial enhancement of plant nutrient availability
  • bacterial priming of plant defense
  • pathogen exclusion
  • bacterial volatiles organic compounds
  • plant growth regulators producing bacteria
  • bacteria synthetic community
  • bacterial increase of plant fitness to ambiental changes
  • new plant beneficial bacteria

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

20 pages, 2661 KB  
Article
Effects of Different Sources of Armillaria mellea Co-Cultivation on the Quality and Soil Microecology of Gastrodia elata
by Li Dong, Chengcui Yang, Xinting Su, Duo Han, Dongsu Zhao, Zhongyan Tang, Fen Xiong, Yinzhu Dong, Xiaodan Wang, Yonghong He and Shunqiang Yang
Plants 2026, 15(9), 1329; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants15091329 - 27 Apr 2026
Abstract
To investigate the effects of different Armillaria mellea (A. mellea) sources on Gastrodia elata (GE) yield, quality, and soil microecology, five A. mellea of difference sources (M1–M5) were co-cultivated with Zhaotong GE at two sites. M5 co-cultivation produced the highest yields [...] Read more.
To investigate the effects of different Armillaria mellea (A. mellea) sources on Gastrodia elata (GE) yield, quality, and soil microecology, five A. mellea of difference sources (M1–M5) were co-cultivated with Zhaotong GE at two sites. M5 co-cultivation produced the highest yields (fresh weight) at both Xiaocaoba, Yiliang (XCB) and Wanchang, Zhenxiong (ZXWC), reaching 3239 g/m2 and 2550 g/m2. For quality, M1 resulted in the highest total gastrodin and parishin content at XCB, while M3 was superior at ZXWC. Post-cultivation, soil pH increased across all treatments. Soil nutrients increased with M1 and M2 at XCB, and with M4 at ZXWC. In GE rhizosphere soil samples, Proteobacteria, Acidobacteria, and Actinobacteria were dominant bacterial phyla, with Proteobacteria abundance decreasing. The dominant fungal phyla were Ascomycota, Basidiomycota, and Mucoromycota; Basidiomycota abundance increased in all soils, while Ascomycota increased only with M1 and M2. M3-treated soils had the highest Gram-negative bacteria abundance, and M1-treated soils were enriched with saprotrophic fungi. This study has several limitations. The conclusions were drawn indirectly with the host (GE) as the focus, and the A. mellea were not identified to clarify potential genetic differences. Future research should integrate fungal omics analyses for a more in-depth investigation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Role of Beneficial Bacteria in Plant Growth and Health Promotion)
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20 pages, 3779 KB  
Article
Pear Scab Disease Suppression by Pseudomonas capeferrum NFX1 Is Mediated by Direct Antagonism Against Venturia pyrina and Pear Defense Priming
by Sara Tedesco, Margarida Pimenta, Filipa T. Silva, João P. Baixinho, Frédéric Bustos Gaspar, Maria Teresa Barreto Crespo and Francisco X. Nascimento
Plants 2026, 15(5), 823; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants15050823 - 7 Mar 2026
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Abstract
Pear scab, caused by Venturia pyrina, poses a threat to pear cultivation, with particularly severe consequences for Portugal’s high-value Rocha pear industry. Despite its economic impact, few biological control agents are currently available. In this work, the phenotypic and genomic characterization of [...] Read more.
Pear scab, caused by Venturia pyrina, poses a threat to pear cultivation, with particularly severe consequences for Portugal’s high-value Rocha pear industry. Despite its economic impact, few biological control agents are currently available. In this work, the phenotypic and genomic characterization of Pseudomonas capeferrum NFX1 is performed and its role as an effective biocontrol agent against V. pyrina is reported. Detailed genomic analysis revealed that strain NFX1 and other members of the Pseudomonas capeferrum species contain key biosynthetic gene clusters involved in pathogen antagonism, including the cyclic lipopeptide putisolvin. Phenotypic assays showed that strain NFX1 significantly inhibited V. pyrina growth, spore germination, and reduced pear scab lesion severity and fungal colonization in detached leaf assays. Moreover, strain NFX1 reprogrammed the Rocha pear leaf transcriptome to be consistent with a priming state and induced systemic resistance. A novel image-based method quantifying lesion darkening as a proxy for pear scab severity in detached leaves and a qPCR assay targeting the V. pyrina ef1-α gene and optimized for fungal DNA detection in infected pear leaves were also developed, thereby establishing a laboratory workflow specifically tailored to biocontrol evaluation against V. pyrina. Ultimately, the obtained results demonstrated the potential of P. capeferrum NFX1 for sustainable pear scab control. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Role of Beneficial Bacteria in Plant Growth and Health Promotion)
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