Haloarchaea Endowed with Phosphorus Solubilization Attribute Implicated in Phosphorus Cycle

Abstract

Archaea are unique microorganisms that are present in ecological niches of high temperature, pH and salinity. A total of 157 archaea were obtained from thirteen sediment, water and rhizospheric soil samples collected from Rann of Kutch, Gujarat, India. With an aim to screen phosphate solubilizing archaea, a new medium was designed as Haloarchaea P Solubilization (HPS) medium. The medium supported the growth and P solubilization activity of archaea. Employing the HPS medium, twenty isolates showed the P-solubilization. Phosphate solubilizing archaea were identified as seventeen distinct species of eleven genera namely Haloarcula, Halobacterium, Halococcus, Haloferax, Halolamina, Halosarcina, Halostagnicola, Haloterrigena, Natrialba, Natrinema and Natronoarchaeum. Natrinema sp. strain IARI-WRAB2 was identified as the most efficient P-solubilizer (134.61 mg/L) followed by Halococcus hamelinensis strain IARI-SNS2 (112.56 mg/L). HPLC analysis detected seven different kinds of organic acids, namely: gluconic acid, citric acid, formic acid, fumaric acid succinic acid, propionic acid and tartaric acid from the cultures of these isolates. These phosphate solubilizing halophilic archaea may play a role in P nutrition to vegetation growing in these hypersaline soils. This is the first report for these haloarchaea to solubilize considerable amount of P by production of organic acids and lowering of pH.

Genome of the webworm Hyphantria cunea unveils genetic adaptations supporting its rapid invasion and spread

“…In the gut microbiota of B. mori (a standard inbred strain, Dazao), Enterococcus (18.7%), Acinetobacter (16.20%) and Aeromonas (8.70%) were the three most abundant microbial genera [115]. The genera Klebsiella, Halovivax and Burkholderia that occur in H. cunea have been reported to contribute to cellulose degradation [116], nitrogen fixation [117], carbon metabolism [118,119], insect growth [120] and fenitrothion resistance [121]. Thus, the abundance of these bacteria might imply their contribution to host adaptation in H. cunea [122][123][124], but much more testing is required.…”

Plant growth‐promoting archaea trigger induced systemic resistance in Arabidopsis thaliana against Pectobacterium carotovorum and Pseudomonas syringae

“…Recently, a few studies have proposed potential interactions between archaea and plants because siderophore-producing archaea (Dignam et al, 2018), phosphorus-solubilizing haloarchaea (Yadav et al, 2015) and nitrogen-fixing methanogens (Leigh, 2000) behave like PGPR. In addition, an archaea phylum, Crenarchaeota, has been shown to colonize tomato roots (Simon et al, 2005).…”

Biodiversity and biotechnological applications of halophilic microbes for sustainable agriculture

“…There are very few reports of archaea as associated with plants such as maize, rice, and halophytic plant (Abutilon, Cressa, Sporobolus, and Suaeda nudiflora) [17][18][19]. Archaea have been reported as unculturable from maize [20] and rice crop [21], whereas culturable archaea have been reported from Abutilon, Cressa, Sporobolus, S. nudiflora [22] [17,23,24]. Microbiome of saline environments, especially halophilic fungi, has become one of the richest bioresources for industrially important molecules and enzymes.…”