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Call for papers - Microbial secondary metabolites for plant growth regulation and stress management

Guest Editors

Rainer Borriss, PhD, Humboldt University Berlin, Germany
Chetan Keswani, PhD, FLS, FSPR, Southern Federal University, Russia
Estibaliz Sansinenea, PhD, Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, México

Submission Status: Open   |   Submission Deadline: 2 December 2024
 

BMC Microbiology announces the launch of the Collection, Microbial secondary metabolites for plant growth regulation and stress management, welcoming research on secondary metabolites biosynthesized by agriculturally important microorganisms and their role in mitigating biotic and abiotic stress and improving plant growth under challenging environmental conditions.

New Content ItemThis Collection supports and amplifies research related to SDG 2: Zero Hunger

Meet the Guest Editors

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Rainer Borriss, PhD, Humboldt University Berlin, Germany

Dr Borriss is a Professor Emeritus at Humboldt University, Berlin. He earned his PhD from Martin-Luther University, Halle/Saale in former East Germany. After working in the industry for several years, he joined the Institute for Plant Breeding (IPK) in Gatersleben. In 1992, he became the head of the chair for Bacterial Genetics at Humboldt University. His research has primarily focused on sequencing and genetic engineering of microbial glucanases, as well as Bacillus genetics. He played a significant role in the Bacillus subtilis genome project, one of the earliest fully sequenced bacteria. Over the last two decades, his research has shifted towards plant growth-promoting bacteria. His contributions led to the establishment of Bacillus velezensis FZB42 as a prototype for plant-associated gram-positive bacteria capable of suppressing plant pathogens, following the sequencing of its genome in 2007. Dr Borriss has authored 310 publications, including 174 articles and 18 book chapters, which have garnered 22,269 citations, resulting in an h-index of 68 (Google Scholar). He has overseen numerous scientific projects funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) and the German Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), collaborating internationally with China and Vietnam. He has served as a visiting professor at China Agricultural University, Beijing, and China North East Forestry University in Harbin. Dr Borriss has received several awards, including the National Prize for Science and Technology.

Chetan Keswani, PhD, FLS, FSPR, Southern Federal University, Russia

Dr Keswani serves as the Group Leader at the Academy of Biology and Biotechnology, Southern Federal University, Rostov-on-Don, Russia. He is honored as a Fellow of the Linnaean Society of London, UK, and was awarded the Best PhD Thesis Award by the Uttar Pradesh Academy of Agricultural Sciences, India, in 2015. His editorial contributions have garnered acclaim, including the Publons Top Peer Review Award in Agricultural Sciences (2018), the Outstanding Editor Award (2019) from Archives of Phytopathology and Plant Protection, and the Springer-Society Award (2020) for outstanding contributions to the journal Environmental Sustainability (Springer-Nature). Moreover, he has been recognized among the World’s Top 2% Scientists for 2022, specifically in the sub-fields of Plant Biology, Botany, and Biotechnology.

Estibaliz Sansinenea, PhD, Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, México

Dr Sansinenea graduated in chemistry from the University of Basque Country (UPV) in Spain, specializing in molecular biology. She pursued her doctoral studies in Mexico at the Science Institute of Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, focusing on the genetic manipulation of Bacillus thuringiensis, completing her thesis in 1999. In 2012, she joined the Chemistry Faculty at Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla. Her current research focuses on "natural products from microorganisms", with a particular focus on Bacillus spp. She leads a group dedicated to elucidating the chemical structures of compounds isolated from these bacteria, employing a multidisciplinary approach that combines microbiology and chemistry. Dr Sansinenea has authored 70 research articles, 14 book chapters, and edited 2 books.

About the Collection

Biotic and abiotic stresses are major limiting factors for crop growth and productivity. Crops are simultaneously exposed to phytopathogens as well as several abiotic stresses, which pose a serious threat for crop production and food security, especially in the current climate change scenario. Among all the available technological tools and agricultural approaches, a promising alternative to enhance plant yield and stress resilience is the application of secondary metabolites derived from agriculturally important microorganisms (AIMs). Nonetheless, the potential of using microbial secondary metabolites remains vastly unexplored.

BMC Microbiology announces the launch of the Collection, Microbial secondary metabolites for plant growth regulation and stress management, to bring together research on secondary metabolites biosynthesized by rhizospheric, phyllospheric and endophytic AIMs, and their role in mitigating biotic and abiotic stress and improving plant growth under challenging environmental conditions. This Collection supports and amplifies research related to SDG 2 (Zero Hunger), and welcomes submissions that explore the biosynthesis and applications of microbial secondary metabolites for plant growth regulation and stress management, the genomic basis of microbial metabolic diversity, metabolomic profiling of secondary metabolites, de novo synthesis of microbial secondary metabolites, and biosafety issues. We invite researchers and experts in the field to submit research articles that cover, but are not limited to, the following topics:

  • Applications of microbial secondary metabolites for plant growth regulation and stress management
  • Biosynthesis of secondary metabolites by agriculturally important microorganisms (AIMs)
  • De novo synthesis and engineering of microbial secondary metabolites to enhance plant growth and stress resilience
  • Metabolomic profiling of microbial secondary metabolites
  • Plant-microbe interactions and symbiotic interactions for plant growth regulation and stress management
  • The role and effects of microbial secondary metabolites in shaping the composition and function of plant microbiomes
  • Antibiosis and microbial competition, with implications for plant growth regulation and stress management
  • Role of plant microbes for systemic acquired resistance and induced systemic resistance
  • The role of plant growth-promoting microorganisms (PGPMs) for plant stress resilience
  • PGPM-derived phytohormones
  • Rhizosphere engineering
  • Rhizodeposition
  • Root exudates
  • Volatile organic compounds (VOCs)
  • Phytopathogens and pathogen effectors
  • Seed priming with microbial bioinoculants


Image credit: lovelyday12 / stock.adobe.com

  1. Plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR), as a group of environmentally friendly bacteria growing in the rhizosphere of plants, play an important role in plant growth and development and resistance to envir...

    Authors: Chao Deng, Nan Zeng, Chunji Li, Jiahe Pang, Ning Zhang and Bingxue Li
    Citation: BMC Microbiology 2024 24:327
  2. Rusted root rot is one of the most common root diseases in Panax ginseng, and Cylindrocarpon destructans is one of the main pathogenic fungus. The objective of this study was to screen and explore the extracts of...

    Authors: Shuaiqi Feng, Yuchi Zhao, Qiuyu Wang, Jiyue Zhang, Xue Liang, Zhuoyue Fu, Yanjie Li, Weiwei Dong and Wenxiu Ji
    Citation: BMC Microbiology 2024 24:317
  3. Globally, drought stress poses a significant threat to crop productivity. Improving the drought tolerance of crops with microbial biostimulants is a sustainable strategy to meet a growing population’s demands....

    Authors: Sakthi Uma Devi Eswaran, Lalitha Sundaram, Kahkashan Perveen, Najat A. Bukhari and R. Z. Sayyed
    Citation: BMC Microbiology 2024 24:165

Submission Guidelines

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This Collection welcomes submission of original Research Articles. Should you wish to submit a different article type, please read our submission guidelines to confirm that type is accepted by the journal. Articles for this Collection should be submitted via our submission system, Snapp. During the submission process you will be asked whether you are submitting to a Collection, please select "Microbial secondary metabolites for plant growth regulation and stress management" from the dropdown menu.

Articles will undergo the journal’s standard peer-review process and are subject to all of the journal’s standard policies. Articles will be added to the Collection as they are published.

The Editors have no competing interests with the submissions which they handle through the peer review process. The peer review of any submissions for which the Editors have competing interests is handled by another Editorial Board Member who has no competing interests.