Plant-soil-microbes: A tripartite interaction for nutrient acquisition and better plant growth for sustainable agricultural practices.

Plants can achieve their proper growth and development with the help of microorganisms associated with them. Plant-associated microbes convert the unavailable nutrients to available form and make them useful for plants. Besides nutrient acquisition, soil microbes also inhibit the pathogens that cause harm to plant growth and induces defense response. Due to the beneficial activities of soil nutrient-microbe-plant interactions, it is necessary to study more on this topic and develop microbial inoculant technology in the agricultural field for better crop improvement. The soil microbes can be engineered, and plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) and plant growth-promoting bacteria (PGPB) technology can be developed as well, as its application can be improved for utilization as biofertilizer, biopesticides, etc., instead of using harmful chemical biofertilizers. Moreover, plant growth-promoting microbe inoculants can enhance crop productivity. Although, scientists have discussed several tools and techniques by omics and gene editing approaches for crop improvement to avoid biotic and abiotic stress and make the plant healthier and more nutritive. However, beneficial soil microbes that help plants with the nutrient acquisition, development, and stress resistance were ignored, and farmers started utilizing chemical fertilizers. Thus, this review attempts to summarize the interaction system of plant microbes, the role of beneficiary soil microbes in the rhizosphere zone, and their role in plant health promotion, particularly in the nutrition acquisition of the plant. The review will also provide a better understanding of soil microbes that can be exploited as biofertilizers and plant growth promoters in the field to create environmentally friendly, sustainable agriculture systems.

Smart and emerging nanomaterials-based biosensor for SARS-CoV-2 detection.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a primary cause of the COVID-19 pandemic. To date, various detection approaches are already present, and many other techniques are also being developed for the rapid and real-time detection of COVID-19 infection in the wake of this pandemic. Hence, this featured review will provide an overview of COVID-19, its biomarkers, current diagnostic techniques, and emerging smart nanomaterials-based biosensing approaches; apart from this, it will also extend some light on future perspectives of biosensing technologies for SARS-CoV-2 diagnosis.