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Itajahya rosea was found growing in association with Leucaena leucocephala plants at Savitribai Phule Pune University campus in India. The species identity was confirmed by phylogenetic analysis based on ITS and LSU regions of rDNA, wherein, our fugus was placed along with I. rosea in phylogenetic tree. It represents first record of I. rosea from India. Frequent visitation by Drosophila species on I. rosea fruiting body particularly on gleba was observed. The Drosophila got attracted to the detached gleba under the laboratory conditions and even sometimes, they prefer to sit over the gleba as compare to their food banana. It suggested that I. rosea gleba or pseudostipe produces some compounds for attraction and feeding behavior of Drosophila species. Therefore, we characterized the volatile attractants produced by gleba and pseudostipe of I. rosea by GC-MS analysis. Nineteen compounds were identified from gleba while nine compounds were recovered from the pseudostipe. Out of them, blends of three abundant odor producing volatile compounds were reported namely, Hexadecane, Pentadecane and Nonadecane, which are responsible for attraction of Drosophila toward the gleba. Three fatty acids namely 9,12-octadecadienoic acid (Z,Z), hexadecanoic acid and benzoic acid ethyl ester produced are served as an appetitive signal through olfactory response of Drosophila, so the flies were feed on the gleba. Two pheromones’ compounds, heneicosane and (+)-(5S,9S)-5,9-dimethylpentadecane, were also reported in pseudostipe and gleba, respectively, which play a role in Drosophila for breeding. Our study highlights an intriguing chemical ecology of fungus–Drosophila interaction.

Microorganisms dwell in diverse plant niches as non-axenic biotic components that are beneficial as well pathogenic for the host. They improve nutrients-uptake, stress tolerance, phytohormone synthesis, and strengthening the defense system through phyllosphere, rhizosphere, and endosphere. The negative consequences of the microbial communities are largely in the form of diseases characterized by certain symptoms such as gall, cankers, rots etc. Uncultivable and unspecified nature of different phytomicrobiomes communities is a challenge in the management of plant disease, a leading cause for the loss of the plant products. Metagenomics has opened a new gateway for the exploration of microorganisms that are hitherto unknown, enables investigation of the functional aspect of microbial gene products through metatranscriptomics and metabolomics. Metagenomics offers advantages of characterizing previously unknown microorganisms from extreme environments like hot springs, glaciers, deep seas, animal gut etc. besides bioprospecting gene products such as Taq polymerase, bor encoded indolotryptoline, hydrolases, and polyketides. This review provides a detailed account of the phytomicrobiome networks and highlights the importance and limitations of metagenomics and other meta-omics approaches for the understanding of plant microbial diversity with special focus on the disease control and its management.

The communication via signaling of chemicals is perhaps one of the earliest forms of communications. The most commonly known interspecific chemical substance such as pheromones is often known to engage in the attraction of mates in insects. Hence, the sensing of environmental and interindividual communication via pheromone systems is fundamental to most organisms that help in guiding the interactional behavior, development, and overall physiological activities. Likewise, the role of pheromones is revealed in fungal species in terms of their role in several cellular activities. The role of pheromones in fungi has been largely unexplored. However, there are few fungal hormones/pheromones such as sirenin, trisporic acid, antheridiol, oogoniol, and peptide hormone in yeast that were documented. Further studies are still underway for their significance in the biology of fungi as a whole and implications they might have on the overall ecosystem. In this chapter, we discuss various progresses made in understanding pheromone related to mating in kingdom fungi and the role of pheromone receptors.

A plant growth-promoting Rhizobacteria (PGPR) Pseudomonas aeruginosa (NG61) isolated from rhizosphere of Sunflower plant. The isolate was identified by 16S rRNA gene sequencing (Accession no. MK455763). NG61 showed various plant growth promotion and biocontrol activities like, Phosphate solubilisation, Nitrogen fixation, Ammonia production, IAA production, siderophore production, HCN production. The whole genome sequence of Pseudomonas aeruginosa (NG61) was reported and analysed. The estimated genome size was 6537180 bp with 66.18% of G+C content. The genome encoded 6186 protein-coding genes, 6252 genes were predicted, 66RNA genes. Phylogenetic tree showed that the P. aeruginosa( NG61) was closely related to P.aeruginosa strain DSM 50071. The annotated draft genome has been deposited at the NCBI database under the accession number PRJNA707114 BioProject and BioSample: SAMN18174979. The analysis of genome sequence of P. aeruginosa (NG61) showed various genes encoding plant growth promotion and biocontrol activities.

In nature, a wide variety of association is present which is mutually favorable among partners. One such association exists in almost all terrestrial ecosystems among most of plants on land with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AM) which is a symbiosis between obligate biotrophic fungi that belongs to the phylum Glomeromycota. However, the association of AM is the most important one as it contributes in most diverse ways towards influencing plant as a whole in most eco-friendly way possible. AM make a positive contribution to growth, yield, pathogen protection, stress tolerance and maintenance of agricultural ecosystem health and sustainability. AM fungi are an eco-friendly biological substitute to chemical fertilizers for better performance of agricultural plants. Introduction of AM inoculum into the agricultural soil is one of the alternative strategies for re-establishing the natural richness of AM fungi which minimizing the conventional chemical fertilization practices. Mass production of AM fungi for application in the agricultural field is one of the challenging aspects. So, present review emphasizes on the mycorrhizal inoculation is a keystone to multifunctional role in agriculture and its mass production for introduction in agricultural field.

Fungal endophytes, establish an endosymbiotic relationship with plants. Endophytic fungi are considered to grow internally with a healthy and asymptomatic association with the host. However, the existence of plant species without the association of endophytes has not been studied yet. Endophytic fungi have the ability to produce high-value bioactive molecules. Most fungal endophytic research draws attention to screening endophytes for the presence of novel as well as some high-value biomolecules. So far, medicinal plants have been targeted to directly isolate the bioactive molecules. But, there has been a major shift from plants to fungi for new drug sources due to the production of novel compounds in plants that were associated with fungal endophytes. As natural bioactive products are of significant importance to chemists and biologists, their discovery has regained interest due to structural diversity, low production cost, and multiple properties of active compounds for the treatment of various diseases. This review highlights the endophytes that were reported for the presence of host-independent and host-dependent production of bioactive molecules. Also, techniques such as cocultivation/fermentation as well as epigenetic modulations are also discussed as potential strategies to enhance the production of bioactive products.

Medicinal fungi have diverse biological properties such as anti-inflammatory, anticancerous, antidiabetic, and antioxidative activities. Mushrooms are known to possess bioactive molecules, i.e., polysaccharides like β-glucans, triterpenoids, and antioxidants. These molecules are known to have therapeutic activities including immunomodulation. Among these medicinal mushrooms, species of Ganoderma like G. lucidum, commonly called as Reishi (traditional Chinese medicine), has shown a potential anticancer activity. Polysaccharides extracted from this mushroom show anticancer activity through immunomodulation. Chaga, Inonotus obliquus, is another mushroom been used as a folk medicine against cancer. Cordyceps is one of the most important health foods of humans, which grows on larvae of moths and converts each larva into a sclerotium, from which the stroma and fruit body grows. Another medicinal mushroom, Phellinus linteus containing Beta D-Glucan and lectin was shown to have immunomodulating effects. Xylaria is commonly known as dead man finger fungus, some of its species producing sesquiterpenes have been used as medicine for treating insomnia and depression. The purpose of this review is to summarize information regarding pharmacologically important compounds from medicinal fungi.

At present, the major global challenge is to accomplish future food security without interfering with the present environment or ecosystem. The global crop production suffers largely due to several pests, insects, or diseases which are being controlled widely by the use of detrimental agrochemicals which are now being considered to damage our health and ecosystem. Therefore, various other alternatives of biological origin are being looked upon for their application as bio-fertilizer or biological control agents such as arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), Trichoderma spp., plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR), and endophytes. Moreover, many other probable microorganisms are still being discovered, and their ecological roles are being studied as well. Therefore, appropriate selection and investigation for applying them effectively with the use of novel technologies have huge potential to safeguard our future food and environment. In addition, many underlying mechanisms which are previously unknown during interaction for crop health improvement can be unveiled by the use of modern technologies such as clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR/Cas), transcriptomics, proteomics, genomics, etc. Even plant growth-promoting traits are being tailored by the use of modern gene engineering techniques which will definitely improve overall plant health, thereby leading to food security. Thus, this chapter presents a brief overview of recent trends in application of various microbial interactions with the twenty-first century technology for crop productivity and overall sustainability of our agricultural ecosystem for our future generation.

Cadmium (Cd2＋) is a major heavy metal pollutant and it causes many serious effects on the environment. The established Cd2＋ removal methods are expensive and produce secondary waste, while biosorption is a potential alternative. In view of this, Sesuvium portulacastrum (L.) is explored, which is a facultative halophyte and is known to survive under both salt and heavy metal stress conditions. Using the dried powder of Sesuvium biomass, two independent biosorbents were prepared including ConB (grown under control condition) and NaClB (grown under 200 mM NaCl) and their Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) indicated significant alteration in peak position of various functional groups. The Cd2＋ biosorption capacity in NaClB (306 mg g−1) was found higher than ConB (203 mg g−1). The kinetic and equilibrium studies revealed the contribution of intraparticle diffusion in the biosorption process of both the biosorbents. Further, the higher intraparticle diffusion rate constant indicated the faster biosorption process in NaClB. The experimental data correlated better with Freundlich equilibrium isotherm ( r 2 = 0 . 96 for ConB and r 2 = 0 . 99 for NaClB) than Langmuir, indicating multilayer biosorption and heterogeneity within the biosorbents. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) imaging indicated that the rough surface of ConB changed to smooth after Cd2＋ biosorption, with lesser number of pores. In case of NaClB, Cd2＋ biosorption narrowed the vertical channels. EDX (Energy Dispersive X-ray) spectrum validated the Cd2＋ binding in both ConB and NaClB. Taken together, the study highlighted NaCl-treated Sesuvium as an eco-friendly green biosorbent for Cd2＋ removal from aqueous solutions.

Fusarium oxysporum is an important soilborne destructive plant pathogen that has an effect on several plant species worldwide. The suggested practice for their effective control was the integration of several management practices, but it remains elusive till now. Since it is important to develop disease-resistant and high-yielding crops due to the increase in food demand with minimum utilization of natural resources, it is necessary that the prerequisite employment methodology be of biological origin and that the candidature for the role of biological control agents implies antagonists in various plant–microbe interactions such as arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and Trichoderma spp. This review proposes a framework that might be helpful in the use of AM fungi and Trichoderma spp. for their effective biocontrol of several plant pathogens and insights into the mechanisms involved. Also, a relationship between arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi or Trichoderma spp. and the host plant is being emphasized upon for improved health and growth for production in present agricultural systems. Therefore, this review focuses on some approaches aimed at the biocontrol of F. oxysporum and biotechnological advancement involved in it for paving insights for future research.

Sclerotium rolfsii (Sacc.) is the causal agent of stem-rot of groundnut plants which is an important damaging soil-borne root pathogen worldwide. Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi ( Glomus fasciculatum ) and Trichoderma asperelloides have shown potential bio-control agent properties against several soil-borne plant pathogens. Interactions between G. fasciculatum , T. asperelloides and soil-borne pathogen S. rolfsii were investigated in this present pot culture experiment. The inoculation of G. fasciculatum and T. asperelloides reduced the severity of disease but their combinations were most effective in reducing harmful effects of S. rolfsii . The arbuscule percentage of AM fungi was affected by presence of T. asperelloides but chlorophyll content got increased by AM fungi or T. asperelloides treatments during S. rolfsii attack. The defense related physiological, biochemical and anti-oxidant activities observed in roots of groundnut plant significantly increased by single inoculation of AM fungi or Trichoderma . But, the combined inoculations of AM fungi and Trichoderma species showed the highest defense related activities. Moreover, single application of either AM fungi or Trichoderma species showed potential for the biocontrol of soil-borne plant pathogen but their combined application attributed most substantial inhibition in development of pathogen

Salt stress is a major agricultural problem all over the world, which has an effect on the functioning of growth and physiology of crop plants. Salinity in soil reduces plant growth by decreasing net photosynthesis rate and stomatal conductance; it also inhibits antioxidant enzyme index. Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi (AMF) are one of the root symbionts which play a vital role in enhancing the crop plant growth and help the host plant in developing tolerance against abiotic stress factors like salt, drought, etc. This chapter aims to evaluate the beneficial role of AMF on plant growth and physiological performance under salinity stress conditions. AMF help to enhance the plant growth, by increasing plant biomass, photosynthetic activity water potential, and selective uptake of nutrients under salinity stress condition. AMF reduce the adverse effect of salt stress by increasing antioxidant defense mechanism in response to salinity stress conditions and promote salinity tolerance in crop plants. AMF mitigate the salt-induced deleterious effects by virtue of maintaining the osmotic balance by regulating the Na+ ad K+ ratio. AMF also help in maintaining osmotic adjustment in host plants by inducing the synthesis of various osmolytics like proline, glycine betaine, etc. Thus, tolerant AMF species can be used as bioinoculant to improve agricultural productivity under salinity stress conditions.

In the present investigation, effect of AM fungi (Glomus fasciculatum and Glomus mosseae) on G. sylvestre growth and gymnemic acid production was studied. Pure cultures of G. fasciculatum and G. mosseae were used as a mycorrhizal inoculum. Higher shoot and root length (32.70 and 34.70 cm) and fresh and dry weight (3.33 and 0.92 g) were recorded in Gf treated plants. HPTLC analysis revealed that Gf treated G. sylvestre showed higher gymnemic acid content in leaves (34.91 mg/g DW), shoot (31.98 mg/g DW) and root (18.72 mg/g DW). As compared to control, Gf treated G. sylvestre showed 2.28 % increase and Gm treated G. sylvestre showed 1.09 % increase in gymnemic acid content for leaf analysis; Gf showed 46 % increase and Gm showed 1.73 % increase for shoot analysis and Gf showed 27 % increase and Gm showed 0.61 % increase for root analysis. As compared to control, Gf and Gm treated G. sylvestre showed 2.28 % increase and 1.09 % increase in gymnemic acid content for leaf analysis; 46 % increase and 1.73 % increase for shoot analysis and 27 % increase and 0.61 % increase for root analysis respectively. AM have positive effect on biomass and gymnemic acid production.

Gmelina arborea Roxb. is medicinally and economically important tree species were selected for study. An experiment was conducted to determine the influence of arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungus Glomus fasciculatum on salt stress tolerance of tree species Gmelina arborea. Mycorrhizal and nonmycorrhizal seedlings were treated with 100 mM and 200 mM concentration of NaCl. G. fasciculatum treated plant showed increase in fresh and dry weight, greater percentage of mycorrhizal colonization, higher accumulation of proline and chlorophyll content with increasing levels of salinity. G. fasciculatum colonization significantly increased tolerance of salinity, acid phosphatases, and Proline content and also antioxidant enzymes like peroxidase, catalase and superoxide dismutase at all levels of salinity treatments of Gmelina plants in comparison with non-mycorrhizal salinity treated plants. These results demonstrate that AM fungus (G. fasciculatum) is very effective in strengthening the tolerance of Gmelina arborea grown in arid and semi arid areas.

Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi alleviating the adverse salt effects on growth was tested in bajra (Pennisetum glaucum). Towards this objective we analyzed the photosynthetic activity, proline, phosphatase activity and various antioxidant enzymes such as peroxidase, catalase and superoxide dismutase at 0, 100, 200 and 300 mM salinity levels in AM inoculated and non inoculated bajra plants. Total chlorophyll content was significantly higher in moderate salinity condition in AM fungus (Glomus fasciculatum) inoculated plants, which lead to increase in growth and nutrient uptake capacity of mycorrhizal plants. Antioxidant activity was either increased or decreased due to responses to different salinity stress conditions. Proline accumulation was induced by salt and it was more in shoot of non-AM inoculated plants, but in roots proline accumulation was higher in AM plants at all levels of salinity. This work suggests that the AM fungus helps bajra plants to perform better under moderate salinity levels by enhancing the antioxidant activity and proline accumulation as compared to non-mycorrhizal plants.

AM symbiosis reducing damage caused by soilborne pathogen and abiotic stresses and its protection is modulated by soil and other environmental conditions. Drought stress is one of the abiotic stresses in most areas of central Maharashtra (India) and lots of tree species survive in this drought-prone area; the present investigation deals with qualitative and quantitative distribution of AM fungi in rhizosphere soil of three tree species from three localities in the dry land area of central Maharashtra, the mycorrhizal population with respect to its variation in the month of May to October and to study the physicochemical properties of rhizospheric soil. The spore population was very high in the months of June to September in all three localities studied. The extent of colonisation by AM fungi was moderately high (70–100%). During this season there was positive correlation between AM colonisation and spore population in these months because of moderate rainfall. The species of Gigaspora and Acaulospora wer...

Potential of Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi in alleviating adverse salt effects on growth was tested in garlic (Allium sativum L.). Towards this objective we analyzed the AM root colonization and the activities of various antioxidant enzymes like peroxidase, catalase, and superoxide dismutase at 0, 100, 200 and 300 mM salinity levels. The activities of all the antioxidant enzymes studied were found to be increased in AM garlic plants. Antioxidant activity was maximum in 100 and 200 mM NaCl (sodium chloride) in AM and non-AM plants. Proline accumulation was induced by salt levels and it was more in leaves as well as roots of AM plants as compared to non-AM plants, this indicating that mycorrhiza reduced salt injury. Growth parameters of garlic plants like leaf area, plant fresh and dry weight and antioxidant enzyme activities were higher at moderate salinity level. This work suggests that the mycorrhiza helps garlic plants to perform better under moderate salinity level by enhancing the antioxidant activity and proline content as compared to non-AM plants.