Insights into endophytic bacterial diversity of rice grown across the different agro-ecological regions of West Bengal, India.

Endophytes have recently garnered importance worldwide and multiple studies are being conducted to understand their important role and mechanism of interaction inside plants. But before we indulge in their functions it is necessary to dig into the microbiome. This will help to get a complete picture of the microbes intrinsic to their host and understand changes in community composition with respect to their habitats. To fulfil this requirement in our study we have attempted to dissect the endophytic diversity in roots of rice plant grown across the various agro-ecological zones of West Bengal by undergoing amplicon analysis of their 16S rRNA gene. Based on the measured environmental parameters agro-ecological zones can be divided into two groups: nutrient dense groups, representing zones like Gangetic, Northern hill and Terai-Teesta zone characterised by soil with higher levels of nitrogen (N) and total organic carbon and nutrient low groups representing Coastal saline, Red-laterite and Vindhyan zone mainly characterised by high electroconductivity and pH. Gammaproteobacteria, Alphaproteobacteria, Bacilli and Bacteroidetes were mostly abundant in nutrient dense sites whereas Clostridia and Planctomycetes were concentrated in nutrient low sites. Few genera (Aeromonas, Sulfurospirillum, Uliginosibacterium and Acidaminococcus) are present in samples cultivated in all the zones representing the core microbiome of rice in West Bengal, while some other genera like Lactococcus, Dickeya, Azonexus and Pectobacterium are unique to specific zone. Hence it can be concluded that this study has provided some insight in to the endophytic status of rice grown across the state of West Bengal.

Influence of sodium chloride on the regulation of Krebs cycle intermediates and enzymes of respiratory chain in mungbean (Vigna radiata L. Wilczek) seedlings.

The effect of common salt (NaCl) on ion contents, Krebs cycle intermediates and its regulatory enzymes was investigated in growing mungbean (Vigna radiata L. Wilczek, B 105) seedlings. Sodium and chloride ion contents increased in both root and shoot whereas potassium ion content decreased in shoot of test seedlings with increasing concentrations of NaCl. Organic acids like pyruvate and citrate levels increased whereas malate level decreased under stress in both roots and shoots. Salt stress also variedly affected the activities of different enzymes of respiratory chain. The activity of pyruvate dehydrogenase (E.C. 1.2.4.1) decreased in 50 mM NaCl but increased in 100 mM and 150 mM concentrations, in both root and shoot samples. Succinate dehydrogenase (E.C. 1.3.5.1) activity was reduced in root whereas stimulated in shoot under increasing concentrations of salt. The activity of isocitrate dehydrogenase (E.C. 1.1.1.41) and malate dehydrogenase (E.C. 1.1.1.37) decreased in both root and shoot samples under salt stress. On the contrary, pretreatment of mungbean seeds with sublethal dose of NaCl was able to overcome the adverse effects of stress imposed by NaCl to variable extents with significant alterations of all the tested parameters, resulting in better growth and efficient respiration in mungbean seedlings. Thus, plants can acclimate to lethal level of salinity by pretreatment of seeds with sublethal level of NaCl, which serves to improve their health and production under saline condition, but the sublethal concentration of NaCl should be carefully chosen.