xiii
Contents
1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1
1.1 Unexplored Soil Microbial World: A Solution for the Multiple
Challenges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1
1.2 Microorganisms Under a Changing Climate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3
2 Belowground Microbial Communities: Key Players for Soil and
Environmental Sustainability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5
2.1 Microorganisms for Agriculture and Environmental
Remediation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5
2.2 Plant Growth-Promoting Microorganisms (PGPMs) . . . . . . . . . . . .
6
2.3 Plant Growth-Promoting Traits and Microbial Functions . . . . . . . .
8
2.4 Microbes Improve Agricultural Production and Nutritional
Quality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.5 Biocontrol Agents and Resistance Against Plant Diseases . . . . . . . 11
2.6 Microorganisms Improve Soil Quality. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
2.7 Microbially Assisted Extensification for Improving
Agricultural Production from Degraded Lands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2.8 Microorganisms for Phyto-Bioremediation, Carbon
Sequestration, Biomass, and Bioenergy Production . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
2.9 Major Challenges for Wide-Scale Utilization of
Microbial Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
3 Methods for Exploring Soil Microbial Diversity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
3.1 Phospholipid Fatty Acid Analysis (PLFA) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
3.2 Fluorescence In Situ Hybridization (FISH) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
3.3 Denaturing Gradient Gel Electrophoresis (DGGE) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
3.4 Terminal Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism
(T-RFLP) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
3.5 Automated Version of RISA (Ribosomal Intergenic
Spacer Analysis (ARISA) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
3.6 Single-Strand Conformation Polymorphism (SSCP). . . . . . . . . . . . 28
3.7 Stable Isotope Probing (SIP) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Contents
1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1
1.1 Unexplored Soil Microbial World: A Solution for the Multiple
Challenges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1
1.2 Microorganisms Under a Changing Climate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3
2 Belowground Microbial Communities: Key Players for Soil and
Environmental Sustainability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5
2.1 Microorganisms for Agriculture and Environmental
Remediation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5
2.2 Plant Growth-Promoting Microorganisms (PGPMs) . . . . . . . . . . . .
6
2.3 Plant Growth-Promoting Traits and Microbial Functions . . . . . . . .
8
2.4 Microbes Improve Agricultural Production and Nutritional
Quality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.5 Biocontrol Agents and Resistance Against Plant Diseases . . . . . . . 11
2.6 Microorganisms Improve Soil Quality. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
2.7 Microbially Assisted Extensification for Improving
Agricultural Production from Degraded Lands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2.8 Microorganisms for Phyto-Bioremediation, Carbon
Sequestration, Biomass, and Bioenergy Production . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
2.9 Major Challenges for Wide-Scale Utilization of
Microbial Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
3 Methods for Exploring Soil Microbial Diversity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
3.1 Phospholipid Fatty Acid Analysis (PLFA) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
3.2 Fluorescence In Situ Hybridization (FISH) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
3.3 Denaturing Gradient Gel Electrophoresis (DGGE) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
3.4 Terminal Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism
(T-RFLP) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
3.5 Automated Version of RISA (Ribosomal Intergenic
Spacer Analysis (ARISA) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
3.6 Single-Strand Conformation Polymorphism (SSCP). . . . . . . . . . . . 28
3.7 Stable Isotope Probing (SIP) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30