Endophytic Bacteria Colonizing the Petiole of the Desert Plant Zygophyllum dumosum Boiss: Possible Role in Mitigating Stress.

ABSTRACT: Zygophyllum dumosum is a dominant shrub in the Negev Desert whose survival is accomplished by multiple mechanisms including abscission of leaflets to reduce whole plant transpiration while leaving the fleshy, wax-covered petioles alive but dormant during the dry season. Petioles that can survive for two full growing seasons maintain cell component integrity and resume metabolic activity at the beginning of the winter. This remarkable survival prompted us to investigate endophytic bacteria colonizing the internal tissues of the petiole and assess their role in stress tolerance. Twenty-one distinct endophytes were isolated by culturing from surface-sterile petioles and identified by sequencing of the 16S rDNA. Sequence alignments and the phylogenetic tree clustered the isolated endoph

SUBMITTER: Srinivasan J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8924888 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature