Characterization of extracellular polymeric substances ofBacillus amyloliquefaciensSQR9 induced by root exudates of cucumber

Biofilms formation in plant growth-promoting bacteria for alleviating agro-environmental stress

Biofilm formation represents a pivotal and adaptable trait among microorganisms within natural environments. This attribute plays a multifaceted role across diverse contexts, including environmental, aquatic, industrial, and medical systems. While previous research has primarily focused on the adverse impacts of biofilms, harnessing their potential effectively could confer substantial advantages to humanity. In the face of escalating environmental pressures (e.g., drought, salinity, extreme temperatures, and heavy metal pollution), which jeopardize global crop yields, enhancing crop stress tolerance becomes a paramount endeavor for restoring sufficient food production. Recently, biofilm-forming plant growth-promoting bacteria (PGPB) have emerged as promising candidates for agricultural application. These biofilms are evidence of microorganism colonization on plant roots. Their remarkable stress resilience empowers crops to thrive and yield even in harsh conditions. This is accomplished through increased root colonization, improved soil properties, and the synthesis of valuable secondary metabolites (e.g., ACC deaminase, acetin, 2,3-butanediol, proline, etc.). This article elucidates the mechanisms underpinning the role of biofilm-forming PGPB in bolstering plant growth amidst environmental challenges. Furthermore, it explores the tangible applications of these biofilms in agriculture and delves into strategies for manipulating biofilm formation to extract maximal benefits in practical crop production scenarios.

Exposure pathways, environmental processes and risks of micro (nano) plastics to crops and feasible control strategies in agricultural regions

Micro/nanoplastics (MPs/NPs) pollution may adversely impact agricultural ecosystems, threatening the sustainability and security of agricultural production. This drives an urgent need to comprehensively understand the environmental behavior and effects of MPs/NPs in soil and atmosphere in agricultural regions, and to seek relevant pollution prevention strategies. The rhizosphere and phyllosphere are the interfaces where crops are exposed to MPs/NPs. The environmental behavior of MPs/NPs in soil and atmosphere, especially in the rhizosphere and phyllosphere, determines their plant accessibility, bioavailability and ecotoxicity. This article comprehensively reviews the transformation and migration of MPs/NPs in soil, transportation and deposition in the atmosphere, environmental behavior and effects in the rhizosphere and phyllosphere, and plant uptake and transportation pathways. The article also summarizes the key factors controlling MPs/NPs environmental processes, including their properties, biotic and abiotic factors. Based on the sources, environmental processes and intake risks of MPs/NPs in agroecosystems, the article offers several feasible pollution prevention and risk management options. Finally, the review highlights the need for further research on MPs/NPs in agro-systems, including developing quantitative detection methods, exploring transformation and migration patterns in-situ soil, monitoring long-term field experiments, and establishing pollution prevention and control systems. This review can assist in improving our understanding of the biogeochemistry behavior of MPs/NPs in the soil-plant-atmosphere system and provide a roadmap for future research.

Bio-Organic Fertilizer Promotes Pear Yield by Shaping the Rhizosphere Microbiome Composition and Functions

Bio-organic fertilizers (BOF) containing both organic amendments and beneficial microorganisms have been consistently shown to improve soils fertility and yield. However, the exact mechanisms which link amendments and yields remain disputed, and the complexity of bio-organic fertilizers may work in parallel in several ways. BOF may directly improve yield by replenishing soil nutrients or introducing beneficial microbial genes or indirectly by altering the soil microbiome to enrich native beneficial microorganisms. In this work, we aim to disentangle the relative contributions of direct and indirect effects on pear yield. We treated pear trees with either chemical fertilizer or organic fertilizer with/without the plant-beneficial bacterium Bacillus velezensis SQR9. We then assessed, in detail, soil physicochemical and biological properties (metagenome sequencing) as well as pear yield. We then evaluated the relative importance of direct and indirect effects of soil amendments on pear yield. Both organic treatments increased plant yield by up to 20%, with the addition of bacteria tripling the increase driven by organic fertilizer alone. This increase could be linked to alterations in soil physicochemical properties, bacterial community function, and metabolism. Supplementation of organic fertilizer SQR9 increased rhizosphere microbiome richness and functional diversity. Fertilizer-sensitive microbes and functions responded as whole guilds. Pear yield was most positively associated with the Mitsuaria- and Actinoplanes-dominated ecological clusters and with gene clusters involved in ion transport and secondary metabolite biosynthesis. Together, these results suggested that bio-organic fertilizers mainly act indirectly on plant yield by creating soil chemical properties which promote a plant-beneficial microbiome. IMPORTANCE Bio-organic fertilization is a widely used, eco-friendly, sustainable approach to increasing plant productivity in the agriculture and fruit industries. However, it remains unclear whether the promotion of fruit productivity is related to specific changes in microbial inoculants, the resident microbiome, and/or the physicochemical properties of rhizosphere soils. We found that bio-organic fertilizers alter soil chemical properties, thus manipulating specific microbial taxa and functions within the rhizosphere microbiome of pear plants to promote yield. Our work unveils the ecological mechanisms which underlie the beneficial impacts of bio-organic fertilizers on yield promotion in fruit orchards, which may help in the design of more efficient biofertilizers to promote sustainable fruit production.

Organic layer characteristics and microbial utilization of the biosulfur globules produced by haloalkaliphilic Thioalkalivibrio versutus D301 during biological desulfurization

The haloalkaliphilic genus Thioalkalivibrio, widely used in bio-desulfurization, can oxidize H₂S to S^o, which is excreted outside cells in the form of biosulfur globules. As by-product of bio-desulfurization, information on biosulfur globules is still very scant, which limits its high-value utilization. In this paper, the characteristics of biosulfur globules produced by Thioalkalivibrio versutus D301 and the possibility of cultivating sulfur-oxidizing bacteria as a high biological-activity sulfur source were studied. The sulfur element in the biosulfur globules existed in the form α-S₈, which was similar to chemical sulfur. The biosulfur globule was wrapped with an organic layer composed of polysaccharides and proteins. The composition of this organic layer could change. In the formation stage of biosulfur globules, the organic layer was dominated by polysaccharides, and in later stage, proteins became the main component. We speculated that the organic layer was mainly formed by the passive adsorption of organic matter secreted by cells. The existence of organic layer endowed biosulfur with better bioavailability. Compared with those found using chemical sulfur, the growth rates of Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans ATCC 19377^T, Thiomicrospira microaerophila BDL05 and Thioalkalibacter halophilus BDH06 using biosulfur increased several folds to an order of magnitude, indicating that biosulfur was a good sulfur source for cultivating sulfur-oxidizing bacteria.

Decoding the potential of a new Pseudomonas putida strain for inducing drought tolerance of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) plants through seed biopriming

A total of 11 potential plant growth promoting rhizobacteria previously isolated from naturally stressed environments were evaluated for various traits of interest for a beneficial symbiosis with plants, including colonization ability, biofilm formation, motility, exopolysaccharide production and salt tolerance. The vast majority of the strains were found to possess multiple plant growth promoting traits. Nevertheless, the intensity varied among isolates, with those originated from tomato plants being more efficient colonizers. The strain SAESo11, genetically characterized as a Pseudomonas putida member was selected for further investigation of its potential to alleviate drought stress in tomato seedlings. Inoculation with SAESo11 mitigated the negative effects of drought stress as indicated by growth and photosynthetic indices. Furthermore, bacterial inoculation enhanced H₂O₂ content and malondialdehyde levels in colonized plants. Drought treatment did not further alter the oxidative status of these plants. Similarly, total phenolic content and antioxidant enzyme activity were induced in plant tissues in response to drought stress only at the absence of inoculum. These results indicated that inoculation with the selected strain imposed plants at a priming state, that enabled them to respond more robustly at the exposure to drought stress and efficiently attenuated the drought-induced injury. This state of plant alertness mediated by SAESo11 occurred at no cost to growth, highlighting its role as a potential plant priming agent.

Architecture and physico-chemical properties of Bacillus amyloliquefaciens L-17 pellicle formed at the air-liquid interface

Bacillus amyloliquefaciens is a ubiquitous soil and plant-associated bacterial species which shows structural and adaptative responses to the environment. This present paper explores the ability of the strain L-17 to form subaerial biofilms on a liquid surface. Hydrophobic and non-wetting properties were observed for the rough top biofilm layer in contact with the air, which are quite different to the hydrophilic properties which were observed for the smooth biofilm layer in contact with the liquid. Both pellicle interfaces were visualized by scanning electron microscopy revealing a complex three-dimensional architecture composed of exopolymers organized in stacked fibrous network or sheet-like structures in the vicinity of the subaerial surface. Disruption of the extracellular matrix by combining physical and chemical treatments indicated that both loosely and tightly bound polysaccharides were found as major components of this complex pellicle. Proteins were also involved in the aggregation and cohesion of the matrix as multi extraction steps were needed to recover some tightly bounded proteins. This was confirmed by applying protease treatment which was able to significantly disrupt the pellicle. Overall results underline the ability of B. amyloliquefaciens L-17 to survive on air-liquid interfaces. This feature offers an interesting strategy to escape aquatic environments and develop aerial biofilm in response to environmental changes involving wet-dry cycles.

Screening, plant growth promotion and root colonization pattern of two rhizobacteria (Pseudomonas fluorescens Ps006 and Bacillus amyloliquefaciens Bs006) on banana cv. Williams (Musa acuminata Colla)

Banana is the second largest export crop in Colombia. To meet the demand of international markets, high amounts of chemical fertilizers are required, which represent high costs and can be hazardous to the environment. Plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) can, at least partially, replace chemical fertilizers. In this paper, we evaluated the effect of nine PGPR of the genera Bacillus and Pseudomonas on banana growth. Banana seedlings were produced through tissue culture and acclimatized in the greenhouse core. Plants were inoculated with the rhizobacteria and growth parameters (plant height, leaf number, leaf area, pseudostem thickness, root and shoot fresh weight, root and shoot dry weight) were assessed after 55 days. The two best performing PGPR, Bs006 and Ps006 previously identified as Bacillus amyloliquefaciens and Pseudomonas fluorescens, respectively, promoted banana growth similarly or even slightly superior to 100% chemical fertilization, and were selected for further characterization of root colonization by both eletron microscopy and confocal microscopy of fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH)-stained root tissues. Both P. fluorescens Ps006 and B. amyloquifaciens Bs006 showed ability to colonize banana roots, but Bs006 appeared faster than Ps006 in the colonization dynamics. This work demonstrated that inoculation of rhizobacteria Bacillus amyloliquefaciens Bs006 and Pseudomonas fluorescens Ps006 could partially replace the chemical fertilization of tissue cultured banana plants, and therefore could be used for the formulation of a new biofertilizer.