Identification of plant growth promoting metabolic pathways in bacteria isolated from sugarcane microbiome

• Grant number: 17/05951-4
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: August 01, 2017
• End date: February 28, 2019
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Microbiology - Biology and Physiology of Microorganisms
• Agreement: Coordination of Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES)
• Principal Investigator: Paulo Arruda
• Grantee: Marcio Luiz Magrini
• Host Institution: Centro de Biologia Molecular e Engenharia Genética (CBMEG). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Microbial communities colonize endophytic and exophytic plant tissues. Part of this community may benefit the plant development, acting directly on the plant growth and survival under adverse weather conditions. Until recently, investigation of plant-microorganism association was solely based on isolation and cultivation pure of microorganisms, by selective culture medium. However, recent studies based on cultivation-independent methods revealed that the plant-associated microbial community is much diverse than previously known. The role of such diverse microbial community in association to plant is largely unknown. This research work aims to investigate new plant growth promoting bacteria identified in the sugar cane microbiome. Our team has previouly mapped bacterial and fungal diversity associated with the root, stalk and leaf exophytic and endophytic regions of a sugarcane variety. Our work revealed that most abundant sugarcane bacterial and fungal groups have never been studied before regarding their functional role in association with this plant. By microorganisms cultivation and isolation methodologies developed in our laboratory, we were able to create a sugarcane microbiome representative collection. Representatives of some highly abundant bacterial groups were used to create a synthetic inoculant. When applied to maize plants, this inoculant dramatically promoted the plant growth comparing to uninoculated plants. Furthermore, we verified that both synthetic community and individual inoculation of some of those bacteria are capable of increasing the plant biomass by three times. The mechanisms by which those bacteria promote the plant growth are still unknown. In this project, we will meticulously map the genes and metabolic pathways coded by the genomes of some of those bacteria in order to clarify the cross-talk between the plant and bacteria related to plant growth. (AU)

Academic Publications

(References retrieved automatically from State of São Paulo Research Institutions)

MAGRINI, Marcio Luiz. Unveiling plant-microbiota mutualistic interaction under the perspective of a bacterial genome isolated from sugarcane microbiome. 2020. Master's Dissertation - Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Instituto de Biologia Campinas, SP.