Agriculture assisted by microbial genetic resources: Current and future scenarios.

Microbial genetic resources, as part of world's biodiversity, are the backbone of all ecosystems. Their application in agri-food and industrial production has proven to be vital for the advancement of humankind. Today, amidst challenges stemming from population growth, climate change, shrinking arable land and increasing pollution, high-impact research on microbial genetic resources with the potential to strengthen the resilience of world agricultural production and safeguard human food security have been developed. Specifically, research on microbial genetic resources has focused on enhancing plant growth and health, improving soil quality and pollutant degradation, among other functions. Thus, this special issue will seek to bring together the advances and current state-of-the-art science in the search for, characterization, identification, evaluation, transfer and innovation of microbial genetic resources as key elements in migrating towards sustainable agriculture.