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Mining the roots of various species of the halophyte Suaeda for halotolerant nitrogen-fixing endophytic bacteria with the potential for promoting plant growth

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Abstract

Saline area may tend to be a productive land; however, many of salt-affected soils have nitrogen limitation and depend on plant-associated diazotrophs as their source of ‘new’ nitrogen. Herein, a total of 316 salinity tolerant nitrogen-fixing endophytic bacteria were isolated from roots of the halophyte Suaeda sp. sampled from 22 different areas of Iran to prepare the collection of nitrogen-fixing bacterial endophytes and evaluate the plant growth–promoting effect of effective isolates on growth of the halophyte Suaeda maritima. All of the identified nitrogen-fixing endophytes were classified to Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Firmicutes, and Bacteroidetes phylum while we did not detect common nitrogen-fixing endophyte of glycophytes like Azospirillum. The genera Pseudomonas and Microbacterium were both encountered in high abundance in all samples, indicating that they might play an advanced role in the micro-ecosystem of the halophyte Suaeda. In addition, the results also showed that not only soil salinity can affect halophyte endophytic composition but also other factors such as geographical location, plant species, and other soil properties may be involved. Interestingly, only Zhihengliuella halotolerans and Brachybacterium sp. belonging to Actinobacteria could grow in semi-solid N-free (NFb) medium supplemented with 6% NaCl and highly enhanced growth of S. maritima in vitro. Overall, this study offers useful new resources for nitrogen-fixing endophytic bacteria which may be utilized to improve approaches for providing bio-fertilizer useful in saline-based agriculture.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to Dr. Mohammad Reza Ghaffari, the head of Department of Systems Biology, ABRII, for his support and valuable suggestions.

Funding

This work was supported by the Agriculture Biotechnology Research Institute of Iran (ABRII) (grant numbers 12-05-05-043-93001-961745) and University of Tehran, Karaj, Iran.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Soil Science, Agriculture & Natural Resources Campus, Faculty of Agricultural Engineering & Technology, University of Tehran, Daneshkadeh Ave., Karaj, Tehran, 31587-77871, Iran

    Frashad Alishahi, Hossein Ali Alikhani & Hassan Etesami

  2. Agriculture Biotechnology Research Institute of Iran (ABRII), Agriculture Research, Education and Extension Organization (AREEO), Karaj, Iran

    Nayer Azam Khoshkholgh-Sima

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  1. Frashad Alishahi
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  2. Hossein Ali Alikhani
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  3. Nayer Azam Khoshkholgh-Sima
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  4. Hassan Etesami
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Correspondence to Hossein Ali Alikhani or Hassan Etesami.

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Alishahi, F., Alikhani, H.A., Khoshkholgh-Sima, N.A. et al. Mining the roots of various species of the halophyte Suaeda for halotolerant nitrogen-fixing endophytic bacteria with the potential for promoting plant growth. Int Microbiol 23, 415–427 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10123-019-00115-y

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