Bacteria-Plant Interactions during Bioremediation

Dear Colleagues,

Soil contamination is becoming a problem in agriculture; it diminished the cultivable areas, and reduces crop yield and crop quality. The continuous growth of the human population increases the demand for food and energy crops, and therefore, the need for more cultivable areas. At the same time, urban, industrial, and agricultural practices release increasing amounts of contaminants into the environment. Polluted soils are considered useless for agriculture, not only because of the presence of contaminants that can alter food properties, but also because plants frequently cannot thrive or they grow very poorly on them. The utilization of contaminated soils for the production of energy crops could be a good solution to avoid the problems associated with the adsorption of contaminants in food crops, although how to achieve a high vegetal productivity in these contaminated environments remains a problem.

Because of the high cost of conventional remediation techniques, many contaminated areas are not included in remediation plans. Bioremediation is a promising technology that can be used in the rehabilitation of agricultural soils because it is a relatively cheap technique. The utilization of bacteria associated with plants, mainly in rhizoremediation strategies, presents many advantages, such as increasing the number and the activity of contaminant-degrading bacteria, and improving plant growth.

This Special Issue will focus on “Bacteria–plant interactions during bioremediation”. We welcome reviews, opinions, and novel research manuscripts covering all related topics, including, but not limited to, the following : (i) selection of the best combination plant–bacteria for decontamination processes; (ii) stability of the associations during bioremediation; (iii) identification of possible toxic contaminant-derived products and accumulation in soil; (iv) environmental impact of bioremediation activities; (v) economic viability of the bioremediation, including the utilization of the contaminant areas for the production of energetic crops; (vi) beneficial effects of bioremediation in plants; or (vii) characterization of root exudates and their influence in the expression of contaminant-degrading genes. This Issue will have special interest in works using energetic crops in bioremediation (poplar, sunflowers, and others).

Dr. Ana Segura
Dr. Lazaro Molina
Guest Editors

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• Rhizoremediation
• Root exudates
• Plant–bacteria communication
• Impacts of rhizoremediation
• Energy crops for rhizoremediation
• Bioavailability