Significance and Impact of the Study: Plant growth-promoting bacteria (PGPBs) are widely acknowledged for rescuing crop productivity in regions experiencing biotic/abiotic stresses. However, their implementation in arid regions experiencing severe drought stress has remained elusive. It is reasoned that PGPBs must have extremophilic traits and plant growth promotion capabilities for their application in arid regions. Here we report on targeted selection of bacterial isolates that express ACC deaminase and are thermohalotolerant and have the potential for implementation as plant growth-promoting bacteria or biofertilizers in arid and semi-arid agroecosystems.

We report the complete genome sequence of Salipaludibacillus sp. strain CUR1, which was isolated from Sambhar Lake (a soda lake) in Rajasthan, India. The whole-genome sequencing of this strain has been done to explore the industrially important hydrolytic and extracellular enzymes that can be active under high-salt and high-pH conditions.