Abstract
Although the importance of the plant microbiome in commercial plant health has been well established, there are limited studies in native medicinal plants. Pseudowintera colorata (horopito) is a native New Zealand medicinal plant recognized for its antimicrobial properties. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) and Illumina MiSeq analysis of P. colorata plants from ten sites across New Zealand showed that tissue type strongly influenced the diversity and richness of endophytic bacteria (PERMANOVA, P < 0.05). In addition, two OTUs belonging to the genus Pseudomonas (Greengenes ID: 646549 and 138914) were found to be present in >75% of all P. colorata leaf, stem and root samples and were identified as the members of the P. colorata “core endomicrobiome”. Culture-independent analysis was complemented by the recovery of 405 endophytic bacteria from the tissues of P. colorata. Some of these cultured endophytic bacteria (n = 10) showed high antagonism against four different phytopathogenic fungi tested. The influence of endophytic bacteria on plant growth was assessed by inoculating P. colorata seedlings. The mean shoot height of seedlings treated with Bacillus sp. TP1LA1B were longer (1.83×), had higher shoot dry weight (1.8×) and produced more internodes (1.8×) compared to the control.
Highlights
Bacteria are ubiquitous and present in almost all environments, their roles within ecosystems and their associations with their hosts are not fully understood
The influence of endophytic bacteria on plant growth was assessed by inoculating P. colorata seedlings
The richness of Alpha, Beta and Gammaproteobacteria was generally higher in leaves (n = 17, 22 and 22 respectively) compared to stems (n = 17, 16 and 12 respectively) and roots (n = 13, 14 and 14 respectively) (least significant difference (LSD) P ≤ 0.005) (Table 1) (Tables S1, S2, S3)
Summary
Bacteria are ubiquitous and present in almost all environments, their roles within ecosystems and their associations with their hosts are not fully understood. Research has demonstrated that endophytic bacteria play crucial roles in plant development by enhancing plant metabolism, improving nutrient uptake, and influence overall fitness [1,2]. Endophytic bacteria have been reported to confer several beneficial traits for their hosts such as solubilizing phosphate, assimilating nitrogen and promoting plant growth via the production of phytohormones and growth-regulating enzymes [3]. Endophytic bacteria can mediate biological control of phytopathogens by several mechanisms such as competing for ecological niche, production of bioactive compounds and induced systemic resistance [4]. Endophytes from medicinal plants have been identified as sources of novel antimicrobial compounds [5,6]. Research on the Chinese medicinal plant Ferula songorica revealed that
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