Insight into the Taxonomic and Functional Diversity of Bacterial Communities Inhabiting Blueberries in Portugal

Abstract

Vaccinium myrtillus is a dwarf shrub of the Ericaceae family with a Palearctic distribution, associated with temperate and cold humid climates. It is widespread on the European continent; on the Iberian Peninsula it is located on Atlantic climate mountains and glacial relicts. In Portugal, we find scattered and interesting populations; however, the majority of them are threatened by climate change and wildfires. Given that, the objective of this study is to determine the rhizospheric and root bacterial communities of this plant in the southernmost regions, and, consequently, its potential range and ability to be used as a biofertilizer. In this work, metabarcoding of 16S rRNA gene showed that the endophytic bacterial diversity is dependent on the plant and selected by it according to the observed alpha and beta diversity. Moreover, a culturomic approach allowed 142 different strains to be isolated, some of them being putative new species. Additionally, some strains belonging to the genera Bacillus, Paenibacillus, Pseudomonas, Paraburkholderia, and Caballeronia showed significant potential to be applied as multifunctional biofertilizers since they present good plant growth-promoting (PGP) mechanisms, high colonization capacities, and an increase in vegetative parameters in blueberry and tomato plants.

Diversity of Culture Microorganisms from Portuguese Sweet Cherries

“…These data indicate that the composition of the fungal community associated with sweet cherries from the Beira Interior region in Portugal shares numerous common elements with other fungal communities in edible fruits. While it is known that plants have a significant capacity to select the taxa that form their microbiome [39,68], there may be a greater environmental influence on more exposed organs such as fruits or flowers. Alternatively, the specific conditions of these tissues may favor the development of similar taxa across different plant species.…”

“…The isolation of microorganism communities present in Portuguese cherries was performed using Sabouraud dextrose agar (SDA) with chloramphenicol for fungus, MRS agar, potato dextrose agar (PDA), and tryptic soya agar (TSA) for bacteria, and Reasoner's 2A agar (R2A) medium for the possible growth of both microorganisms, and it was performed according to Gonçalves et al [39]. To find out what microorganisms live in cherry tissues, collected samples were first washed three times with sterile deionized water and then surface-sterilized through immersion in 70% ethanol for 30 s and 2% sodium hypochlorite for 3 min.…”

“…The amplification and sequencing of the 16S rRNA genes were carried out, as indicated previously [39], using the primers 27F (5 -AGAGTTTGATCCTGGCTCAG-3 ) and 1522R (5 -AAGGAGGTGATCCANCCRCA-3 ). The acquired sequences were compared to those in GenBank using the BLASTN program, selecting "type strains" as the phylum to perform the search [29].…”

Vaccinium uliginosum and Vaccinium myrtillus—Two Species—One Used as a Functional Food

“…Observations of V. uliginosum on Portugal's mainland suggest fragmented populations and uncertain survival in the uppermost parts of Serra da Estrela. Serra da Estrela as well as Serra da Freita both have fragmented populations of V. myrtillus, but the latter is more plentiful in northern Portugal's mountains [19]. Bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus L.) is the most important economically wild berry in Northern Europe, and it is also extensively used in juice and food production.…”

Editorial for Special Issue “Bacterial Plant Communities: Diversity, Molecular Interactions, and Plant Growth Promotion-2nd Edition”

“…The third contribution analyzed populations of wild Vaccinium myrtillus in Portugal, situated in a bioclimatic region at the edge of its potential ecological distribution. This work showcased a clear influence of the plant on root endophytic populations and their significant potential for use as a biofertilizer [ 10 ]. The fourth contribution presents a study on the biofertilizer potential of different strains within the endophytic communities of Fragaria x annanassa , indicating a strain-dependent effect in inoculation [ 11 ].…”