Ochrobactrum cytisi IPA7.2 promotes growth of potato microplants and is resistant to abiotic stress.

Bacteria in natural associations with agricultural crops are promising for use in the improvement of clonal micropropagation of plants. We clarified the taxonomic position of Ochrobactrum cytisi strain IPA7.2 and investigated its tolerance for salinity, high temperature, and glyphosate pollution. We also tested the strain's potential to promote the growth of potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) microplants. Using the IPA7.2 draft genome (no. NZ_MOEC00000000), we searched for housekeeping genes and also for the target genes encoding glyphosate tolerance and plant-growth-promoting ability. A multilocus sequence analysis of the gap, rpoB, dnaK, trpE, aroC, and recA housekeeping genes led us to identify isolate IPA7.2 as O. cytisi. The strain tolerated temperatures up to 50 °C and NaCl concentrations up to 3-4%, and it produced 8 µg ml-1 of indole-3-acetic acid. It also tolerated 6 mM glyphosate owing to the presence of type II 5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase. Finally, it was able to colonize the roots and tissues of potato microplants, an ability preserved by several generations after subculturing. We identified the development phase of potato microplants that was optimal for inoculation with O. cytisi IPA7.2. Inoculation of in vitro-grown 15-day-old microplants increased the mitotic index of root meristem cells (by 50%), the length of shoots (by 34%), the number of leaves (by 7%), and the number of roots (by 16%). Under ex vitro conditions, the inoculated plants had a greater leaf area (by 77%) and greater shoot and root dry weight (by 84 and 61%, respectively) than did the control plants. We recommend O. cytisi IPA 7.2 for use in the growing of potato microplants to improve the production of elite seed material.

Isolation and characterization of a glyphosate-degrading rhizosphere strain, Enterobacter cloacae K7.

Plant-growth-promoting rhizobacteria exert beneficial effects on plants through their capacity for nitrogen fixation, phytohormone production, phosphate solubilization, and improvement of the water and mineral status of plants. We suggested that these bacteria may also have the potential to express degradative activity toward glyphosate, a commonly used organophosphorus herbicide. In this study, 10 strains resistant to a 10 mM concentration of glyphosate were isolated from the rhizoplane of various plants. Five of these strains--Alcaligenes sp. K1, Comamonas sp. K4, Azomonas sp. K5, Pseudomonas sp. K3, and Enterobacter cloacae K7--possessed a number of associative traits, including fixation of atmospheric nitrogen, solubilization of phosphates, and synthesis of the phytohormone indole-3-acetic acid. One strain, E. cloacae K7, could utilize glyphosate as a source of P. Gas-liquid chromatography showed that E. cloacae growth correlated with a decline in herbicide content in the culture medium (40% of the initial 5mM content), with no glyphosate accumulating inside the cells. Thin-layer chromatography analysis of the intermediate metabolites of glyphosate degradation found that E. cloacae K7 had a C-P lyase activity and degraded glyphosate to give sarcosine, which was then oxidized to glycine. In addition, strain K7 colonized the roots of common sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) and sugar sorghum (Sorghum saccharatum Pers.), promoting the growth and development of sunflower seedlings. Our findings extend current knowledge of glyphosate-degrading rhizosphere bacteria and may be useful for developing a biotechnology for the cleanup and restoration of glyphosate-polluted soils.