Allelopathy: From Plant–Plant to Plant–Microbe Interactions
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 August 2026 | Viewed by 1
Special Issue Editors
Interests: secondary metabolites; biochemistry; allelopathy; allelochemicals; biodegradation; detoxification; chemical–plant–microbe interaction; ecological chemistry
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: vegetable production; vegetable processing; plant environmental stress physiology; hydroponics; sustainable agriculture; agricultural development
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Allelopathic interactions, caused by released natural bioactive molecules (allelochemicals), have been recognized as important modulators of natural plant communities and agricultural systems with impacts on plant growth and development and on ecosystem and species diversity. Allelochemicals shape soil and plant microbiomes and are essential for plant–plant and plant–microbe communication. In sustainable agriculture, crop-interplanting models that rely on positive allelopathic effects between cover crops and intercrops and the use of negative allelopathic interactions for weed control have been established, with many more at the trial stage. While in recent decades, allelopathic research has focused on plant and microbial allelochemicals for weed control, recent research considers allelochemicals in plant–microbe communication. In addition, the conversion of parent allelopathic compounds into derivatives with adapted bioactivities and ecologically important degradation properties has also been increasingly of interest. The identification of presently unknown secondary/specialized metabolites, their derivatives, and degradation products remains, however, indispensable.
One of the greatest challenges involves understanding the principles of host-specific microbiome organization and the communication strategies between microbiome members and their host, as well as the precise and unique distribution of defined bioactive metabolites with special functions in these highly complex networks. Further aspects include the role of host age in microbiome remodeling or breakdown, microbial strain diversity, and competition, including the development of dysbiosis. Regarding crops, the role of cultivar genetics in the defense against harmful allelochemicals is increasingly focused on.
This Special Issue aims to present research and review articles that highlight the influence of allelochemicals in modulating microbiome species abundance and diversity, and the consequences of changed microbiome compositions in chemical plant interference. Articles dealing with extracellular vesicles as a novel mode of cross-kingdom communication by carrying and releasing functional molecules are welcome. In addition, articles related to the identification of new specialized allelochemicals and their derivatives and field trials dealing with allelopathy and allelopathic horticulture are considered, as well as those presenting the impacts of allelochemical-affected soil microbiomes on plant performance.
Dr. Margot Schulz
Prof. Dr. Andreas Ulbrich
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- plant and soil microbiomes
- microbiome species diversity and abundance
- microbiome functions in allelopathy
- microbial and plant allelochemicals
- novel modes of allelochemical distribution
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