Project description:It has been performed a genome-wide analysis of gene expression of the root-colonizing bacterium Pseudomonas putida KT2440 in the rhizosphere of corn (Zea mays var. Girona. To identify reliable rhizosphere differentially expressed genes, rhizosphere populations of P. putida bacteria cells were compared with three alternative controls: i) planktonic cells growing exponentially in rich medium (LB), ii) planktonic cells in stationary phase in LB, and iii) sessile populations established in sand microcosms, under the same conditions used to grow inoculated corn plants.
Project description:Giant panda are carnivorous bears which feed almost exclusively on plant biomass (i.e. bamboo). The potential contribution of its gut microbiome to lignocellulose degradation has been mostly investigated with cultivation-independent approaches. Recently, we reported on the first lab-scale cultivation of giant panda gut microbiomes and described their actual fermentation capacity. Fermentation of bamboo leaf using green dung resulted in a neutral pH, the main products being ethanol, lactate and H2. Fermentation of bamboo pith using yellow dung resulted in an acidic pH, the main product being lactate. Here, we cultivated giant panda gut microbiomes to test 1) the impact of mixed dung as inoculum; 2) the fermentation capacity of solid lignocellulose as opposed to organics-rich biofluids in the dung; 3) the artificial shift of pH from neutral to acidic on bamboo leaf fermentation. Our results indicate that i) gut microbiomes fermentation of solid lignocellulose contributes up to a maximum of 1/3 even in the presence of organics-rich biofluids; ii) alcohols are an important product of bamboo leaf fermentation at neutral pH; iii) aside hemicellulose, gut microbiomes may degrade plant cell membranes to produce glycerol; iv) pH, rather than portion of bamboo, ultimately determines fermentation profiles and gut microbiome assemblage.
Project description:Hydroponic systems have gained interest and are increasingly used in hot and dry desert areas. Numbers of benefits are offered by hydroponic systems such as the ability to save water, enhance nutrients use efficiency, easy environmental control, and prevention of soil-borne diseases. However, the high consumption of chemical fertilizers for nutrient solution and the sensitivity of closed hydroponic systems to salinity are issues that need solutions. Thus, the main goal of our research activities is to isolate plant growth promoting fungi in order to develop sustainable hydroponic systems. We are working on isolating and testing the possibility to incorporate the cell-free filtrate (CFF) of plant growth promoting fungi (PGPF) in the composition of the nutrient solution. In this work, we isolated six strains of PGPF from the rhizosphere of the halophyte grass Aeluropus littoralis. Phylogenetic analyses of DNA sequences amplified by ITS1 and ITS4 primers identified the isolated fungi as: Byssochlamys spectabilis, Chaetomium globosum, Cephalotheca foveolata, Penicillium melinii, Alternaria tenuissima, and Nigrospora chinensis. The promoting of vigor in tobacco seedlings was used as criteria to evaluate the biostimulant activity of these fungi by adding either their mycelia (DE: direct effect) or their cell-free filtrates (CFF: indirect effect) to the plant-growth media. The best significant growth stimulation was obtained with plants treated by B. spectabilis. However, only the CFFs of Byssochlamys spectabilis (A5.1) and Penicillium melinii (A8) when added at a dilution factor of 1/50 to half-strength nutritive solution (0.5NS) resulted in significant improvement of all assessed growth parameters. Indeed, the A5.1CFF and A8CFF in 0.5NS induced a significant better increase in the biomass production when compared to NS or 0.5NS alone. All fungi produced indole acetic acid in the CFFs, which could be one of the key factors explaining their biostimulant activities. Furthermore, six genes involved in nitrogen-metabolism (NR1 and NRT1), auxin biosynthesis (Tryp1 and YUCCA6-like), and brassinosteroid biosynthesis (DET2 and DWF4) were shown to be induced in roots or leaves following treatment of plants with the all CFFs. This work opens up a prospect to study in deep the biostimulant activity of PGPFs and their applications to decrease the requirement of chemical fertilizers in the hydroponic growing systems.