Response of rhizobacterial communities in watermelon to infection with cucumber green mottle mosaic virus as revealed by cultivation-dependent RISA

Abstract

We investigated the rhizobacterial densities and community structure in watermelon rhizosphere under the infection of cucumber green mottle mosaic virus (CGMMV) by artificial inoculation. Rhizobacterial densities and communities were analysed from healthy and infected plants under aerobic and anaerobic culture techniques. The highest total number of aerobic rhizobacteria was counted to be 2.7 × 108 colony forming units per gram (CFU · g−1) and anaerobic rhizobacteria was to be 3.2 × 106 CFU · g−1, in healthy and infected plants, respectively. Cultivation-dependent ribosomal intergenic spacer analysis (RISA) was employed for further analysis on the rhizobacterial community structure. By incorporating the relative abundance of amplicons, the per cent similarity was determined by the similarity coefficients based only upon the absence or presence of DNA bands. The cluster analysis of RISA showed that the community structure of aerobic rhizobacteria exhibited 60% similarity between healthy and infected plant. The highest community structure similarity (50% similarity) of anaerobic rhizobacteria occurred between before planting and infected plant.