Abstract

Salt marshes are highly dynamic, biologically diverse ecosystems with a broad range of ecological functions. We investigated the endophytic bacterial community of surface sterilized seeds of the holoparasitic Cistanche phelypaea growing in coastal salt marshes of the Iberian Peninsula in Portugal. C. phelypaea is the only representative of the genus Cistanche that was reported in such habitat. Using high-throughput sequencing methods, 23 bacterial phyla and 263 different OTUs on genus level were found. Bacterial strains belonging to phyla Proteobacteria and Actinobacteriota were dominating. Also some newly classified or undiscovered bacterial phyla, unclassified and unexplored taxonomic groups, symbiotic Archaea groups inhabited the C. phelypaea seeds. γ-Proteobacteria was the most diverse phylogenetic group. Sixty-three bacterial strains belonging to Bacilli, Actinomycetes, α-, γ- and β-Proteobacteria and unclassified bacteria were isolated. We also investigated the in vitro PGP traits and salt tolerance of the isolates. Among the Actinobacteria, Micromonospora spp. showed the most promising endophytes in the seeds. Taken together, the results indicated that the seeds were inhabited by halotolerant bacterial strains that may play a role in mitigating the adverse effects of salt stress on the host plant. In future research, these bacteria should be assessed as potential sources of novel and unique bioactive compounds or as novel bacterial species.

Details

Title
Diversity and potential plant growth promoting capacity of seed endophytic bacteria of the holoparasite Cistanche phelypaea (Orobanchaceae)
Author
Petrosyan, Kristine 1 ; Thijs, Sofie 2 ; Piwowarczyk, Renata 3 ; Ruraż, Karolina 3 ; Kaca, Wiesław 4 ; Vangronsveld, Jaco 5 

 Jan Kochanowski University, Department of Microbiology, Institute of Biology, Kielce, Poland (GRID:grid.411821.f) (ISNI:0000 0001 2292 9126); Hasselt University, Environmental Biology Research Group, Centre for Environmental Sciences, Diepenbeek, Belgium (GRID:grid.12155.32) (ISNI:0000 0001 0604 5662) 
 Hasselt University, Environmental Biology Research Group, Centre for Environmental Sciences, Diepenbeek, Belgium (GRID:grid.12155.32) (ISNI:0000 0001 0604 5662) 
 Jan Kochanowski University, Department of Environmental Biology, Center for Research and Conservation of Biodiversity, Institute of Biology, Kielce, Poland (GRID:grid.411821.f) (ISNI:0000 0001 2292 9126) 
 Jan Kochanowski University, Department of Microbiology, Institute of Biology, Kielce, Poland (GRID:grid.411821.f) (ISNI:0000 0001 2292 9126) 
 Hasselt University, Environmental Biology Research Group, Centre for Environmental Sciences, Diepenbeek, Belgium (GRID:grid.12155.32) (ISNI:0000 0001 0604 5662); Maria Curie-Skłodowska University, Department of Plant Physiology and Biophysics, Faculty of Biology and Biotechnology, Institute of Biological Sciences, Lublin, Poland (GRID:grid.29328.32) (ISNI:0000 0004 1937 1303) 
Pages
11835
Publication year
2023
Publication date
2023
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
e-ISSN
20452322
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2840675474
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2023. This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.