Beijerinckia fluminensis BFC-33, a novel multi-stress-tolerant soil bacterium: Deciphering the stress amelioration, phytopathogenic inhibition and growth promotion in Triticum aestivum (L.).

Environmental challenges like drought, salinity, heavy metals and pesticides directly/indirectly influence the environment and decreased the agricultural output. During its long developmental stages, cereal crops including wheat is exposed to a variety of abiotic/biotic stressors. Certain beneficial soil bacteria that can ameliorate environmental stresses can be exploited as crop growth promoters/enhancers under adverse situations. In this study, Beijerinckia fluminensis BFC-33 (accession no. MT672580) isolated from potato rhizosphere tolerated variousabiotic (drought, salinity, temperature, heavy metals, and fungicides) stresses. Strain BFC-33 demonstrated multifarious plant-growth-promoting (PGP) characteristics, such as the production of indole-3-acetic acid, P-solubilization, ACC deaminase, ammonia, siderophore, HCN, EPS, and extracellular enzymes. The antagonistic potential of BFC-33 against major fungal pathogens was ranked: Alternaria alternata (79.2%)>Rhizoctonia solani (69%)>Fusarium oxysporum (23.5%)>Ustilaginoidea virens (17%). Furthermore, bacterization of wheat seeds witha multi-stress-tolerant strain revealed B. fluminensis as a plant growth enhancer and biocontrol agent. For instance, increase in root length (cm) in BFC-33 inoculated wheat exposed to abiotic and biotic stresses at the seedling stage was ranked: B. fluminensis (24.2)>B. fluminensis + 100μgTBZLmL-1 (21.3) = B. fluminensis + 2%PEG (21.3)>B. fluminensis + 100 mM NaCl (19.7)>B. fluminensis + 100μgPbmL-1 (19) = B. fluminensis 100μgMNZBmL-1 (19)>B. fluminensis + A. alternata (17.4)>B. fluminensis + 100μgCdmL-1 (17)>B. fluminensis + F. oxysporum (13.4). In addition, increase in carotenoid accumulation (mg g-1FW) in the foliage of BFC-33 inoculated wheat exposed to fungal infection was ranked: BFC-33 (3.88)>BFC-33+ A. alternata (3.0)>BFC-33+ R. solani (2.78)>BFC-33+ F. oxysporum (2.44). Moreover, BFC-33 inoculation significantly (p ≤ 0.05) reduced stress-induced stressor molecules (proline and TBARS) and electrolyte leakage. Furthermore, B. fluminensis BFC-33 potentially enhanced the defense responses in wheat seedlings by increasing phenylalanine ammonia lyase (PAL), β-1,3 glucanase, and polyphenol oxidase (PPO), which play a significant role in protecting plants from phytopathogens. Even so, by successfully establishing a product with the requisite effects under field settings, selecting multi-stress-tolerant and antagonistic plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPRs) would be helpful to end-users. Future use of native multi-stress-tolerant bacteria as biocontrol agents in conjunction with existing drought, salinity, heavy metal, and pesticide tolerance might contribute to global food security.

Al-Shwaiman HA ，Shahid M ，Elgorban AM ，Siddique KHM ，Syed A ... -  《-》

Stress-Tolerant Endophytic Isolate Priestia aryabhattai BPR-9 Modulates Physio-Biochemical Mechanisms in Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) for Enhanced Salt Tolerance.

Shahid M ，Zeyad MT ，Syed A ，Singh UB ，Mohamed A ，Bahkali AH ，Elgorban AM ，Pichtel J ... -  《-》

Multi-stress tolerant PGPR Bacillus xiamenensis PM14 activating sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum L.) red rot disease resistance.

Sustainability in crop production has emerged as one of the most important concerns of present era's agricultural systems. Plant growth promoting bacteria (PGPB) has been characterized as a set of microorganisms used for enhancing plant growth and a tool for biological control of phytopathogens. However, the inconsistent performance of these bacteria from laboratory/greenhouse to field level has emerged due to prevailing abiotic stresses in fields. Sugarcane crop encounters a combination of biotic and abiotic stresses during its long developmental stages. Nevertheless, the selection of antagonistic PGPB with abiotic stress tolerance would be beneficial for end-user by the successful establishment of product with required effects under field conditions. Stress tolerant Bacillus xiamenensis strain (PM14) isolated from the sugarcane rhizosphere grown in the fields was examined for various PGP activities, enzyme assays, and antibiotic resistance. Strain was screened for in vitro tolerance against drought, salinity, heat stress, and heavy metal toxicity. Inhibition co-efficient of B. xiamenensis PM14 was also calculated against six phyto-pathogenic fungi, including Colletotrichum falcatum (53.81), Fusarium oxysporum (68.24), Fusarium moniliforme (69.70), Rhizoctonia solani (71.62), Macrophomina phaseolina (67.50), and Pythium splendens (77.58). B. xiamenensis is reported here for the first time as the rhizospheric bacterium which possesses resistance against 12 antibiotics and positive results for all in vitro PGP traits except HCN production. Role of 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate deaminase in the amelioration of biotic and abiotic stress was also supported by the amplification of acds gene. Moreover, in vitro and in vivo experiments revealed B. xiamenensis as the potential antagonistic PGPR and bio-control agent. Results of greenhouse experiment against sugarcane red rot indicated that inoculation of B. xiamenensis to sugarcane plants could suppress the disease symptoms and enhance plant growth. Augmented production of antioxidative enzymes and proline content may lead to the induced systemic resistance against red rot disease of sugarcane. Thus, the future application of native multi-stress tolerant bacteria as bio-control agents in combination with current heat, drought, salinity, and heavy metal tolerance strategy could contribute towards the global food security.

Amna ，Xia Y ，Farooq MA ，Javed MT ，Kamran MA ，Mukhtar T ，Ali J ，Tabassum T ，Rehman SU ，Hussain Munis MF ，Sultan T ，Chaudhary HJ ... -  《-》

Plant-beneficial Streptomyces dioscori SF1 potential biocontrol and plant growth promotion in saline soil within the arid and semi-arid areas.

Environmental challenges like salinity, drought, fungal phytopathogens, and pesticides directly or/and indirectly influence the environment and agricultural yields. Certain beneficial endophytic Streptomyces sp. can ameliorate environmental stresses and be utilized as crop growth promoters under adverse conditions. Herein, Streptomyces dioscori SF1 (SF1) isolated from seeds of Glycyrrhiza uralensis tolerated fungal phytopathogens and abiotic stresses (drought, salt, and acid base). Strain SF1 showed multifarious plant growth promotion characteristics, including the production of indole acetic acid (IAA), ammonia, siderophores, ACC deaminase, extracellular enzymes, the ability of potassium solubilization, and nitrogen fixation. The dual plate assay showed that strain SF1 inhibited 63.21 ± 1.53%, 64.84 ± 1.35%, and 74.19 ± 2.88% of Rhizoctonia solani, Fusarium acuminatum, and Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, respectively. The detached root assays showed that strain SF1 significantly reduced the number of rotten sliced roots, and the biological control effect on sliced roots of Angelica sinensis, Astragalus membranaceus, and Codonopsis pilosula was 93.33%, 86.67%, and 73.33%, respectively. Furthermore, the strain SF1 significantly increased the growth parameters and biochemical indicators of adversity in G. uralensis seedlings under drought and/or salt conditions, including radicle length and diameter, hypocotyl length and diameter, dry weight, seedling vigor index, antioxidant enzyme activity, and non-enzymatic antioxidant content. In conclusion, the strain SF1 can be used to develop environmental protection biological control agents, improve the anti-disease activity of plants, and promote plant growth in salinity soil within arid and semi-arid regions.

Li X ，Lang D ，Wang J ，Zhang W ，Zhang X ... -  《-》

Deciphering distinct biological control and growth promoting potential of multi-stress tolerant Bacillus subtilis PM32 for potato stem canker.

Plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) represent a set of microorganisms that play significant role in improving plant growth and controlling the phytopathogens. Unpredictable performance after the application of PGPR has been observed when these were shifted from in-vitro to in-vivo conditions due to the prevalence of various abiotic stress conditions. During growing period, the potato crop is subjected to a combination of biotic and abiotic stresses. Rhizoctonia solani, a soil-borne plant pathogen, causes reduced vigor and yield of potato crop worldwide. In the current study, multi-stress-tolerant rhizobacterial strain, Bacillus subtilis PM32, was isolated from field-grown potato with various plant growth promoting (PGP) traits including zinc and potassium solubilization, biological nitrogen fixation, ammonia and siderophore, as well as extracellular enzyme productions (cellulase, catalase, amylase, protease, pectinase, and chitinase). The strain PM32 exhibited a distinct potential to support plant growth by demonstrating production of indole-3-acetic acid (102.6 μM/mL), ACC-deaminase activity (1.63 μM of α-ketobutyrate/h/mg protein), and exopolysaccharides (2.27 mg/mL). By retarding mycelial growth of R. solani the strain PM32 drastically reduced pathogenicity of R. solani. The strain PM32 also suppressed the pathogenic activity significantly by impeding mycelial expansion of R. solani with inhibition co-efficient of 49.87. The B. subtilis PM32 also depicted significant tolerance towards salt, heavy metal (Pb), heat and drought stress. PCR based amplification of ituC and acds genes coding for iturin and ACC-deaminase activity respectively indicated potential of strain PM32 for lipopeptides production and ACC deaminase enzyme activity. Results of both in-vitro and pot experiments under greenhouse conditions depicted the efficiency of B. subtilis PM32 as a promising bio-control agent for R. solani infection together with enhanced growth of potato plants as deciphered from biomass accumulation, chlorophyll a, b, and carotenoid contents. Therefore, it was envisioned that application of indigenous multi-stress tolerant PGPR may serve to induce biotic and abiotic stress tolerance in crops/plants for pathogen control and sustainable global food supply. The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12298-021-01067-2.

Mehmood S ，Muneer MA ，Tahir M ，Javed MT ，Mahmood T ，Afridi MS ，Pakar NP ，Abbasi HA ，Munis MFH ，Chaudhary HJ ... -  《-》