Growth stage and tissue specific colonization of endophytic bacteria having plant growth promoting traits in hybrid and composite maize (Zea mays L.).

Maize, a crop cultivated worldwide, was investigated for plant tissue and crop stage specific colonization of endophytic bacteria. Such bacterial interactions have high potential to enhance maize grain yield by means of biological nitrogen fixation and/or plant growth promoting activities. In this study endophytic bacteria were isolated from a hybrid PEEHM-5 and composite PC-4 maize varieties using root, stem and leaf tissues of plants at vegetative, flowering and maturity stages of growth. PEEHM-5 harbored higher endophytic bacterial population than PC-4 at all growth stages, with highest in roots and at flowering stage. Morphologically 188 different endophytic isolates (82 from PEEHM-5, 106 from PC-4) were screened for plant growth promoting attributes viz. P, K, Zn solubilization, production of hormones, siderophore, ACC deaminase, HCN, biological nitrogen fixation and biocontrol of two maize fungal pathogens. Thirty one potential PGP isolates on RFLP analysis of their amplified 16S rRNA gene, were clustered in 13 phylogenetic groups. On sequencing and blasting of amplified 16S rRNA gene of representative isolates from each group identified PC-4 endophytic bacterial isolates as Bacillus aryabhattai, Pantoea cypripedii, Bacillus licheniformis, Klebsiella sp., Pantoea dispersa, Klebsiella variicola, Pantoea sp., Agrobacterium larrymoorei and PEEHM-5 endophytic bacterial isolates as Bacillus sp., Bacillus amyloliquefaciens, Lactococcus lactis, Bacillus cereus and Staphylococcus hominis. In planta evaluation of potential isolates at variable chemical fertilizer input indicated their potential in compensating nearly 25% of the fertilizer input as observed on their improvement of shoot and root parameters. Lactococcus lactis inoculation influenced maximum followed by Pantoea and Klebsiella isolates.

Marag PS ，Suman A 《-》

Phytohormone production endowed with antagonistic potential and plant growth promoting abilities of culturable endophytic bacteria isolated from Clerodendrum colebrookianum Walp.

In this study, culturable endophytic bacterial isolates obtained from an ethnomedicinal plant Clerodendrum colebrookianum Walp., were assessed for their diversity, in vitro screening for their plant growth promoting (PGP) activities and to use them as inoculant for in vivo PGP activities with biocontrol potential. Totally, 73 isolates were recovered from different tissues of C. colebrookianum were identified by 16S rRNA gene sequencing and phylogenetically analyzed by using BOX-PCR fingerprinting. Out of 73 isolates, 52 exhibited varying extents of antagonistic potential were selected for screening for various PGP traits. Concerning the PGP activities, the percentage of isolates positive for P-solubilisation, indolic compounds production, siderophore and ammonia production were 84.6, 92.3, 78.8 and 98.0 respectively. All isolates were positive for the production of hydrocyanic acid (HCN) and 86.5%, 84.6% and 90.3% of isolates showed significant cellulase, amylase and protease production respectively. Further, the top 10 bacterial isolates based on a bonitur scale with multiple PGP activities were screened for root surface colonization and biofilm formation ability. Out of selected 10 isolates, 9 showed significant potential for root surface colonization on tomato roots. Isolate BPSAC6 identified as Bacillus sp. was most efficient in biofilm formation as assessed with respect to the intensity of crystal violet, which further showed their potential to withstand various biotic and abiotic stresses. Furthermore, Bacillus sp. strain BPSAC6 showed a significant increase in shoot and root height as well as fresh weight after 45 and 60 d of inoculation with tomato seedlings. Additionally, biosynthetic potential of antagonistic isolate was detection by using PKSI, PKSII and NRPS biosynthetic genes. Two isolates Pseudomonas psychrotolerans and Labrys wisconsinensis were reported first time as an endophyte. At last, first time an endophytic bacterial strain Bacillus sp. BPSAC6 was reported to produce altogether three phytohormones (IAA, Kinetin and 6-Benzyladenine). This study is the first report that bacteria isolated from C. colebrookianum has biocontrol as well as PGP abilities endowed with phytohormones production and can be used for the preparation of bioinoculant for plant growth promotion.

Passari AK ，Mishra VK ，Leo VV ，Gupta VK ，Singh BP ... -  《-》

Isolation and characterization of plant growth promoting endophytic diazotrophic bacteria from Korean rice cultivars.

We have isolated 576 endophytic bacteria from the leaves, stems, and roots of 10 rice cultivars and identified 12 of them as diazotrophic bacteria using a specific primer set of nif gene. Through 16S rDNA sequence analysis, nifH genes were confirmed in the two species of Penibacillus, three species of Microbacterium, three Bacillus species, and four species of Klebsiella. Rice seeds treated with these plant growth-promoting bacteria (PGPB) showed improved plant growth, increased height and dry weight and antagonistic effects against fungal pathogens. In addition, auxin and siderophore producing ability, and phosphate solubilizing activity were studied for the possible mechanisms of plant growth promotion. Among 12 isolates tested, 10 strains have shown higher auxin producing activity, 6 isolates were confirmed as strains with high siderophore producing activity while 4 isolates turned out to have high phosphate-solubilizing activity. These results strongly suggest that the endophytic diazotrophic bacteria characterized in this study could be successfully used to promote plant growth and inducing fungal resistance in plants.

Ji SH ，Gururani MA ，Chun SC 《-》

Maize endophytic bacteria as mineral phosphate solubilizers.

de Abreu CS ，Figueiredo JE ，Oliveira CA ，Dos Santos VL ，Gomes EA ，Ribeiro VP ，Barros BA ，Lana UG ，Marriel IE ... -  《Genetics and Molecular Research》

Morphological and genetic characterization of endophytic bacteria isolated from roots of different maize genotypes.

Ikeda AC ，Bassani LL ，Adamoski D ，Stringari D ，Cordeiro VK ，Glienke C ，Steffens MB ，Hungria M ，Galli-Terasawa LV ... -  《-》