Culturable endophytic bacteria associated with medicinal plant Ferula songorica: molecular phylogeny, distribution and screening for industrially important traits

Abstract

Xinjiang, a region of high salinity and drought, is a host to many arid and semi-arid plants. Many of these plants including Ferula spp. have indigenous pharmaceutical histories. As many of the medicinal properties of plants are in tandem with the associated microorganisms residing within the plant tissues, it is advisable to explore the endophytic potential of such plants. In the present study, diversity of culturable bacteria isolated from medicinal plants Ferula songorica collected from Hebukesaier, Xinjiang were analyzed. A total of 170 endophytic bacteria belonging to three phyla, 15 orders, 20 families and 27 genera were isolated and characterized by 16S rRNA gene sequencing. The phylum Actinobacteria constitutes a major portion of the endophytic microbes isolated from the plant Ferula songorica (107 isolates). Overall endophytic species richness of the sample was 58 taxa while the sample has statistical values of 4.02, 0.97, 0.65 and 16.55 with Shannon’s, Simpson, Species evenness and Margalef, respectively. Root tissues were found to be more suitable host for endophytes as compared to leaf and stem tissues. Among these endophytic strains, 88 % can grow on nitrogen-free media, 19 % solubilize phosphate, while 26 and 40 % are positive for production of protease and cellulase, respectively. The results confirm that the medicinal plant Ferula songorica represents an extremely rich reservoir for the isolation of diverged bacteria with potential for growth promoting factors and biologically active compounds including enzymes.

Community Structure, Diversity and Potential of Endophytic Bacteria in the Primitive New Zealand Medicinal Plant Pseudowintera colorata

“…The number of endophytic bacteria isolated in this study were comparable to other studies. For example, similar studies on the medicinal plants Ferula songorica (Chinese medicinal plant) and L. scoparium, respectively, isolated 170 and 192 culturable endophytic bacteria [7,21]. Leaves of P. colorata yielded the lowest number of culturable bacterial endophytes (6.17%, n = 25).…”

“…The mean shoot height of seedlings treated with Bacillus sp. TP1LA1B were longer (1.83×), had higher shoot dry weight (1.8×) and produced more internodes (1.8×) compared to the control.Plants 2020, 9, 156 2 of 14 the plant was a rich reservoir of endophytic bacteria that were capable of solubilizing phosphate and producing enzymes such as protease and cellulase [7]. Although microbiome research over the last decade has deciphered the complex interactions of the microbial communities with biotic and abiotic factors, there is limited information especially for native medicinal plants.…”

Antimicrobial and Antioxidant Properties of a Bacterial Endophyte, Methylobacterium radiotolerans MAMP 4754, Isolated from Combretum erythrophyllum Seeds

“…e bacterial morphology (with uniform cells indicating that the bacterial cultures were pure) was further confirmed by the SEM electron micrograph (Figure 1(b)). e isolation of endophytic bacteria has been reported for several medicinal plants such as Catharanthus roseus, Ocimum sanctum and Mentha arvensis [38], Lonicera japonica [39], and Ferula songarica [40]. However, there are currently a few reports on the isolation and characterization of endophytic Methylobacterium and in the context of bioactivity, some of the reports confirmed the antimicrobial compounds [41,42] and production of defensin-like antimicrobial peptides [43].…”

Oleiliquidispirillum nitrogeniifigens gen. nov., sp. nov., a new member of the family Rhodospirillaceae isolated from oil reservoir water

“…The motility of cell was examined on the semisolid agar [19]. Growth at various temperatures (4,15,25,30,37,40,45, 50 and 55 °C) was investigated on LB medium. The pH range for growth was tested by incubating cells at different pH [5][6][7][8][9][10].…”

“…S2). Genomic DNA was extracted from bacterial biomass as described previously [30]. Fragments of the 16S rRNA gene were amplified using the universal bacterial primers 27F and 1492R [31].…”