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Journals
Toxics
Special Issues
Functional Microbial Communities in Soil Health and Pollution Mitigation
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Functional Microbial Communities in Soil Health and Pollution Mitigation

A Special Issue of Toxics (ISSN 2305-6304) belonging to the section "Toxicity Reduction and Environmental Remediation".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 December 2026 | Viewed by 1617

Editor

Dr. Qichun Zhang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
Interests: soil microbial ecology; soil environmental chemistry; soil chemistry
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue focuses on the pivotal roles of functional microbial communities in maintaining soil health and facilitating pollution mitigation. Soil microbiomes drive essential processes such as nutrient cycling, organic matter decomposition, and pollutant transformation, critically influencing soil ecosystem stability and functionality. Recent advances in molecular biology and omics technologies have deepened our understanding of microbial community composition, functional genes, metabolic pathways, assembly mechanisms, and their responses to environmental stressors. We welcome contributions on microbial community structure, functional genes, metabolic pathways, community assembly, and applications in the remediation of combined pollution by heavy metals, organic pollutants, antibiotics, and more. This Special Issue aims to foster interdisciplinary dialogue and promote the application of soil microbial ecology in environmental governance and sustainable development.

Dr. Qichun Zhang
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 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

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-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Toxics is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). 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

  • functional microbial communities
  • soil health
  • pollution mitigation
  • microbial ecology
  • soil microbial diversity
  • ecological remediation

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

21 pages, 2045 KB  
Article
Microbial-Assisted Phytoremediation of Glyphosate-Contaminated Soil by Medicago sativa: Biochemical and Detoxification Responses, Gene Expression, and Dissipation Kinetics
by Ahmed A. A. Aioub, Ahmed Fayez Omar, Ahmed S. Hashem, Hosny Kesba, Sherif El-Ganainy, Wael Elmenofy, Mohamed El-Mogy, Mostafa Almaghaslah, Mustafa Shukry, Zhang Lijun, Qichun Zhang and Sarah I. Z. Abdel Wahab
Toxics 2026, 14(7), 621; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxics14070621 - 16 Jul 2026
Viewed by 1137
Abstract
Glyphosate (GLY), one of the most extensively applied broad-spectrum herbicides worldwide, frequently contaminates soil and aquatic ecosystems, posing serious threats to human health, non-target organisms, soil microbial communities, and environmental sustainability. In the present study, phytoremediation using Medicago sativa (MS) was evaluated for [...] Read more.
Glyphosate (GLY), one of the most extensively applied broad-spectrum herbicides worldwide, frequently contaminates soil and aquatic ecosystems, posing serious threats to human health, non-target organisms, soil microbial communities, and environmental sustainability. In the present study, phytoremediation using Medicago sativa (MS) was evaluated for the removal of GLY from contaminated soil under greenhouse conditions, with remediation efficiency enhanced through inoculation with two bacterial bioagents, Bacillus sp. h10 (BS) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa KZFS4 (PA). Biochemical parameters, including superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), and malondialdehyde (MDA), together with detoxification-related gene expression, were investigated in the roots and leaves of MS exposed to GLY stress. The combined application of MS with BS + PA, followed by MS + PA and MS + BS, significantly decreased GLY residues in soil and increased GLY accumulation in plant roots and leaves after 1, 3, 7, and 10 days compared with MS treatment alone. In vitro batch equilibrium experiments demonstrated that BS and PA desorbed 33.63 and 40.56 µg g−1 of GLY, respectively, thereby enhancing its removal from soil. The persistence of GLY was highest in contaminated soil without treatment, exhibiting a half-life (t1/2) of 52.66 days, whereas the shortest half-life (6.69 days) was recorded in soil treated with MS combined with BS and PA relative to sterilized contaminated soil. Furthermore, inoculation with BS and PA markedly increased SOD and CAT activities in MS tissues, while significantly reducing H2O2 and MDA accumulation, indicating alleviation of oxidative stress. GLY exposure also triggered substantial upregulation of detoxification-associated genes, including cytochrome P450, glutathione S-transferases (GST), glycosyltransferases (GTs), and ABC transporters in MS. These findings demonstrate that the integration of BS and PA with phytoremediation effectively accelerates GLY dissipation and reduces pesticide-associated toxicity in contaminated soils and plants. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Functional Microbial Communities in Soil Health and Pollution Mitigation)
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