Community Structure, Diversity and Potential of Endophytic Bacteria in the Primitive New Zealand Medicinal Plant <i>Pseudowintera colorata</i>
2020
Neeraj Purushotham | Eirian Jones | Jana Monk | Hayley Ridgway
Although the importance of the plant microbiome in commercial plant health has been well established, there are limited studies in native medicinal plants. <i>Pseudowintera colorata</i> (horopito) is a native New Zealand medicinal plant recognized for its antimicrobial properties. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) and Illumina MiSeq analysis of <i>P. colorata</i> plants from ten sites across New Zealand showed that tissue type strongly influenced the diversity and richness of endophytic bacteria (PERMANOVA, <i>P</i> < 0.05). In addition, two OTUs belonging to the genus <i>Pseudomonas</i> (Greengenes ID: 646549 and 138914) were found to be present in >75% of all <i>P. colorata</i> leaf, stem and root samples and were identified as the members of the <i>P. colorata</i> “core endomicrobiome”. Culture-independent analysis was complemented by the recovery of 405 endophytic bacteria from the tissues of <i>P. colorata</i>. Some of these cultured endophytic bacteria (n = 10) showed high antagonism against four different phytopathogenic fungi tested. The influence of endophytic bacteria on plant growth was assessed by inoculating <i>P. colorata</i> seedlings. The mean shoot height of seedlings treated with <i>Bacillus</i> sp. TP1LA1B were longer (1.83×), had higher shoot dry weight (1.8×) and produced more internodes (1.8×) compared to the control.
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