Editorial: plant-microbial symbiosis toward sustainable food security

ABSTRACT

The use of plant-associated microorganisms is increasingly being investigated as a key tool for mitigating the impact of biotic and abiotic threats to crops and facilitating migration to sustainable agricultural practices. The microbiome is responsible for several functions in agroecosystems, such as the transformation of organic matter, nutrient cycling, and plant/pathogen growth regulation. As climate change and global warming are altering the dynamics of plant-microbial interactions in the ecosystem, it has become essential to perform comprehensive studies to decipher current and future microbial interactions, as their useful symbiotic mechanisms could be better exploited to achieve sustainable agriculture. This will allow for the development of effective microbial inoculants that facilitate nutrient supply for the plant at its minimal energy expense, thus increasing its resilience to biotic and abiotic stresses. This article collection aims to compile state-of-the-art research focused on the elucidation and optimization of symbiotic relationships between crops and their associated microbes. The information presented here will contribute to the development of next-generation microbial inoculants for achieving a more sustainable agriculture.

GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

KEYWORDS:

• Beneficial microorganisms
• food security
• microbial inoculants
• soil fertility
• sustainable agriculture

Acknowledgments

Authors acknowledge funding by the PROFAPI project 2023_0002, and I.C.-A. and A.C.M.-M. acknowledge Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (CONACYT) for funding their postdoctoral stay, application numbers 3813573 and 2306476, respectively.

The authors would like to thank the Laboratorio de Biotecnología del Recurso Microbiano (LBRM), as well as the graphic design team for the figure presented in this editorial (Sandra Guadalupe Romero Silva).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the Instituto Tecnológico de Sonora [PROFAPI project 2023_0002].