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Salt stress is one of the significant environmental stressors that severely affects plant growth and development. Plant responses to salt stress involve a series of biological mechanisms, including osmoregulation, redox and ionic homeostasis regulation, as well as hormone or light signaling-mediated growth adjustment, which are regulated by different functional components. Unraveling these adaptive mechanisms and identifying the critical genes involved in salt response and adaption are crucial for developing salt-tolerant cultivars. This review summarizes the current research progress in the regulatory networks for plant salt tolerance, highlighting the mechanisms of salt stress perception, signaling, and tolerance response. Finally, we also discuss the possible contribution of microbiota and nanobiotechnology to plant salt tolerance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many studies on plant biostimulants and organic fertilizers have been focused on the ability of these products to increase crop productivity and ameliorate crop tolerance to abiotic stresses. However, little information is available on their effect on plant microbiota, whereas it is well known that microorganisms associated with plant play crucial roles on the health and productivity of their host. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of a vegetal-derived protein hydrolysate (PH), a vegetal-derived PH enriched with copper (Cu-PH), and a tropical plant extract enriched with micronutrients (PE) on shoot growth and the epiphytic bacterial population of lettuce plants and the ability of these products to enhance the growth of beneficial or harmful bacteria. The three plant-derived products enhanced shoot biomass of lettuce plants indicating a biostimulant effect of the products. Data obtained using culture-independent (Terminal Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism and Next Generation Sequencing) and culture-dependent approaches indicated that foliar application of commercial products altered the composition of the microbial population and stimulated the growth of specific bacteria belonging to Pantoea, Pseudomonas, Acinetobacter, and Bacillus genus. Data presented in this work demonstrated that some of these strains exhibited potential plant growth-promoting properties and/or biocontrol activity against fungi and bacteria phytopathogens including Fusarium, Trichoderma, and Erwinia species. No indication of potential health risks associated to the enrichment of human or plant bacterial pathogens emerged by the analysis of the microbiota of treated and no-treated plants. Overall, the findings presented in this study indicate that the commercial organic-based products can enhance the growth of beneficial bacteria occurring in the plant microbiota and signals produced by these bacteria can act synergistically with the organic compounds to enhance plant growth and productivity.

Many studies on plant biostimulants and organic fertilizers have been focused on the ability of these products to increase crop productivity and ameliorate crop tolerance to abiotic stresses. However, little information is available on their effect on plant microbiota, whereas it is well known that microorganisms associated with plant play crucial roles on the health and productivity of their host. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of a vegetal-derived protein hydrolysate (PH), a vegetal-derived PH enriched with copper (Cu-PH), and a tropical plant extract enriched with micronutrients (PE) on shoot growth and the epiphytic bacterial population of lettuce plants and the ability of these products to enhance the growth of beneficial or harmful bacteria. The three plant-derived products enhanced shoot biomass of lettuce plants indicating a biostimulant effect of the products. Data obtained using culture-independent (Terminal Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism and Next Generation Sequencing) and culture-dependent approaches indicated that foliar application of commercial products altered the composition of the microbial population and stimulated the growth of specific bacteria belonging to Pantoea , Pseudomonas , Acinetobacter , and Bacillus genus. Data presented in this work demonstrated that some of these strains exhibited potential plant growth-promoting properties and/or biocontrol activity against fungi and bacteria phytopathogens including Fusarium , Trichoderma , and Erwinia species. No indication of potential health risks associated to the enrichment of human or plant bacterial pathogens emerged by the analysis of the microbiota of treated and no-treated plants. Overall, the findings presented in this study indicate that the commercial organic-based products can enhance the growth of beneficial bacteria occurring in the plant microbiota and signals produced by these bacteria can act synergistically with the organic compounds to enhance plant growth and productivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The classic understanding of organisms focuses on genes as the main source of species evolution and diversification. The recent concept of genetic accommodation questions this gene centric view by emphasizing the importance of phenotypic plasticity on evolutionary trajectories. Recent discoveries on epigenetics and symbiotic microbiota demonstrated their deep impact on plant survival, adaptation and evolution thus suggesting a novel comprehension of the plant phenotype. In addition, interplays between these two phenomena controlling plant plasticity can be suggested. Because epigenetic and plant-associated (micro-) organisms are both key sources of phenotypic variation allowing environmental adjustments, we argue that they must be considered in terms of evolution. This 'non-conventional' set of mediators of phenotypic variation can be seen as a toolbox for plant adaptation to environment over short, medium and long time-scales.

Next generation sequencing (NGS) technologies have impressively accelerated research in biological science during the last years by enabling the production of large volumes of sequence data to a drastically lower price per base, compared to traditional sequencing methods. The recent and ongoing developments in the field allow addressing research questions in plant-microbe biology that were not conceivable just a few years ago. The present review provides an overview of NGS technologies and their usefulness for the analysis of microorganisms that live in association with plants. Possible limitations of the different sequencing systems, in particular sources of errors and bias, are critically discussed and methods are disclosed that help to overcome these shortcomings. A focus will be on the application of NGS methods in metagenomic studies, including the analysis of microbial communities by amplicon sequencing, which can be considered as a targeted metagenomic approach. Different applications of NGS technologies are exemplified by selected research articles that address the biology of the pant associated microbiota to demonstrate the worth of the new methods.

Salt stress is one of the significant environmental stressors that severely affects plant growth and development. Plant responses to salt stress involve a series of biological mechanisms, including osmoregulation, redox and ionic homeostasis regulation, as well as hormone or light signaling-mediated growth adjustment, which are regulated by different functional components. Unraveling these adaptive mechanisms and identifying the critical genes involved in salt response and adaption are crucial for developing salt-tolerant cultivars. This review summarizes the current research progress in the regulatory networks for plant salt tolerance, highlighting the mechanisms of salt stress perception, signaling, and tolerance response. Finally, we also discuss the possible contribution of microbiota and nanobiotechnology to plant salt tolerance., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Xiao and Zhou.)

Next generation sequencing (NGS) technologies have impressively accelerated research in biological science during the last years by enabling the production of large volumes of sequence data to a drastically lower price per base, compared to traditional sequencing methods. The recent and ongoing developments in the field allow addressing research questions in plant-microbe biology that were not conceivable just a few years ago. The present review provides an overview of NGS technologies and their usefulness for the analysis of microorganisms that live in association with plants. Possible limitations of the different sequencing systems, in particular sources of errors and bias, are critically discussed and methods are disclosed that help to overcome these shortcomings. A focus will be on the application of NGS methods in metagenomic studies, including the analysis of microbial communities by amplicon sequencing, which can be considered as a targeted metagenomic approach. Different applications of NGS technologies are exemplified by selected research articles that address the biology of the plant associated microbiota to demonstrate the worth of the new methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]