Phytohormones Producing Fungal Communities: Metabolic Engineering for Abiotic Stress Tolerance in Crops

Plants are constantly exposed to environmental challenges, namely the biotic and abiotic stresses which adversely affect plant growth and agriculture productivity worldwide. To adapt to ever changing climatic conditions, plants have evolved complex molecular and physiological mechanisms to counteract such adversities. Several plant signaling pathways operate which include production of phytohormones, transcription factors, and reactive oxygen species, among others. Plant–microbe associations define a significant mutualistic interaction which enhances plant growth and development, increases nutritional uptake as well as confers abiotic stress tolerance to agricultural crops. Recent researches have extensively studied the production of phytohormones by fungal communities and genetic engineering of these phytohormones for enhancing abiotic stress tolerance in plants. The chapter provides a comprehensive analysis of fungal species producing phytohormones and their signaling mechanisms. Moreover, the chapter further discusses the major contributions of these plant–microbe associations in plant growth promotion and in conferring abiotic stress tolerance in plants. Highlighting the significance of genetic engineering of crops for improvement and production of better plant varieties as well as the associated challenges with crop production are discussed.