Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Aug;131(2):898-912.
doi: 10.1111/jam.14975. Epub 2021 Jan 4.

Diversity and abundance of culturable nitrogen-fixing bacteria in the phyllosphere of maize

V A J M Abadi  1 , M Sepehri  1 , H A Rahmani  2 , H K Dolatabad  2 , M Shamshiripour  2 , B Khatabi  3
Affiliations

Diversity and abundance of culturable nitrogen-fixing bacteria in the phyllosphere of maize

V A J M Abadi et al. J Appl Microbiol. 2021 Aug.

Abstract

Aims: The present study aimed at gaining an insight into the abundance and genetic diversity of culturable N-fixing epiphyte bacteria on the phyllosphere of maize in arid and semi-arid regions of Iran.

Methods and results: Leaf samples of the maize variety, 'single cross 704' (Zea mays L.) were collected from different locations in Iran. The community of culturable N-fixing epiphyte bacteria present was examined by 16S rRNA sequencing, BOXAIR-polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and restricted fragment length polymorphisms analysis of 16S rRNA gene (16S-RFLP). Approximately, 31·82% of the 242 isolates were identified as N-fixers by cultivation of bacteria in Rennie medium and detection of their nifH gene. The N-fixers were affiliated with four bacterial phyla: Firmicutes, Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria and Bacteroidetes. 16S rRNA sequencing detected 16 genera and 24 different species in the identified phyla. The most dominant genus was Bacillus and the species identified were B. pumilus, B. amyloliquefaciens, B. subtilis, B. paralicheniformis, B. licheniformis, B. niabensis and B. megaterium. In total, 22 RFLP groups were present among the isolates originally identified as N-fixing bacteria. BOXAIR-PCR showed that there was a low similarity level among the N-fixing bacteria isolates, and genetic differentiation of individual strains was relatively great.

Conclusions: Our findings suggest that nitrogen-fixing epiphyte bacteria on the phyllosphere of maize may provide significant nitrogen input into arid and semi-arid ecosystem.

Significance and impact of the study: This research implies that phyllosphere epiphyte diazotrophs have much to offer in sustainable agriculture and can be an alternative to chemical N-fertilizers for providing nitrogen to crops arid and semi-arid regions.

Keywords: 16S-RFLP; BOXAIR-PCR; nifH gene; nitrogen-fixing bacteria; phyllo-microbiome.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Abril, A.B., Torres, P.A. and Bucher, E.H. (2005) The importance of phyllosphere microbial populations in nitrogen cycling in the Chaco semi-arid woodland. J Trop Eco 21, 103-107. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0266467404001981.
    1. Albino, U., Saridakis, D.P., Ferreira, M.C., Hungria, M., Vinuesa, P. and Andrade, G. (2006) High diversity of diazotrophic bacteria associated with the carnivorous plant Drosera villosa var. villosa growing in oligotrophic habitats in Brazil. Plant Soil 287, 199-207. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-006-9066-7.
    1. Bakhoum, N., Galiana, A., Le Roux, C., Kane, A., Duponnois, R., Ndoye, F., Fall, D., Noba, K. et al. (2015) Phylogeny of nodulation genes and symbiotic diversity of Acacia senegal (L.) Willd. and A. seyal (Del.) mesorhizobium strains from different regions of Senegal. Microb Ecol 69, 641-651. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00248-014-0507-1.
    1. Banik, A., Mukhopadhaya, S.K. and Dangar, T.K. (2016) Characterization of N2-fixing plant growth promoting endophytic and epiphytic bacterial community of Indian cultivated and wild rice (Oryza spp.) genotypes. Planta 243, 799-812. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00425-015-2444-8.
    1. Baymiev, A.K., Akimova, E.S., Gumenko, R.S., Vladimirova, A.A., Muldashev, A.A., Chemeris, A.V. and Baymiev, A.K. (2019) Genetic diversity and phylogeny of root nodule bacteria isolated from nodules of plants of the Lupinaster genus inhabiting the southern Urals. Russ J Genet 55, 45-51. https://doi.org/10.1134/S1022795419010022.

Substances

Grants and funding