Abstract
Secondary metabolite biosynthesis in medicinal plants is multi-step cascade known to be modulated by associated endophytes. While a single endophyte is not able to upregulate all biosynthetic steps, limiting maximum yield achievement. Therefore to compliment the deficient characteristics in an endophyte we tried consortium of endophytes to achieve maximum yield. Here, efforts were made to maximize the in planta morphine yield, using consortium of two endophytes; SM1B (Acinetobacter sp.) upregulating most of the genes of morphine biosynthesis except T6ODM and CODM, and SM3B (Marmoricola sp.) upregulating T6ODM and CODM in alkaloid-less Papaver somniferum cv. Sujata. Consortium-inoculation significantly increased morphine and thebaine content, and also increased the photosynthetic efficiency of poppy plants resulted in increased biomass, capsule weight, and seed yields compared to single-inoculation. The increment in morphine content was due to the modulation of metabolic-flow of key intermediates including reticuline and thebaine, via upregulating pertinent biosynthetic genes and enhanced expression of COR, key gene for morphine biosynthesis. This is the first report demonstrating the endophytic-consortium complimenting the functional deficiency of one endophyte by another for upregulating multiple genes of a metabolic pathway similar to transgenics (overexpressing multiple genes) for obtaining enhanced yield of pharmaceutically important metabolites.
Highlights
Increasing populations have threatened food security due to the availability of limited land for cultivation
Due to limitations related to social acceptability and costeffectiveness in genetic manipulation approaches such as the development of transgenics by overexpressing single or multiple genes simultaneously, there is a need of an alternate sustainable approach for improvement of crop production and a healthier environment
Microbes associated with plants such as plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPRs) and endophytes have been used as promising candidates for sustainable agriculture
Summary
Increasing populations have threatened food security due to the availability of limited land for cultivation. To satisfy the needs of the growing population diverse approaches have been tried to increase the food production at the same or even higher rates. Integration/expression/genetic manipulation of more than one genes in a plant became the preferred choice for improvement of plant yield and performance under stressful environmental conditions. These practices have limitations related to production cost, social acceptability, and sustainability (Halpin, 2005). Besides developing transgenic plants, alternate sustainable approaches need to be explored for achieving maximum plant yield
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