Salt tolerance in plants: Using OMICS to assess the impact of plant growth-promoting bacteria (PGPB)

Soil salinization of arable land is a limiting factor in global food crop production. This phenomenon is steadily increasing, leading to a tremendous strain on global food security. Considering the challenges associated with breeding salt-tolerant plant varieties, a more practical approach would be to enhance crop tolerance to salt using sustainable agricultural practices that are more feasible and viable in the long term. Plants have adopted various tolerance mechanisms to overcome salinity, including the association with plant growth-promoting bacteria (PGPB), a potentially practical solution to enhance crop growth under saline conditions. Endophytic and exophytic PGPB share symbiotic relationships with host plants by providing nutrients and a wide range of molecular stimuli. With the immense potential of PGPB in agriculture, various scientific groups are currently investigating different aspects of plant-microbe interaction to better understand this subject. Recent research findings and the advancements in cutting-edge molecular and OMICS technologies have accelerated this field of study. This chapter discusses various beneficial aspects of PGPB and describes how they enhance host plant salinity tolerance, based on recent findings from transcriptomics, genomics, proteomics, and metabolomics.