Rice Endophytic Diazotrophic Bacteria

Abstract

The extension of nitrogen-fixing symbioses to cultivated rice has been a long-standing goal in the field of biological nitrogen fixation. Endophytic bacteria have been found in virtually every plant studied, where they colonize the internal tissues of their host plant and do not cause any harmful effect to their host plant. Therefore, there is a need to use endophytic diazotrophic bacteria that can make biologically fixed nitrogen available for the growth of rice plants. However, prior to introducing any selected endophytic diazotrophic strain into rice plant, the port of entry of the endophytic bacteria, the interaction via this bacteria and their host plant should be clarified. Furthermore, the complexity of bacterial community such as the behavior of native species inside the rice tissue and their interaction with inoculated endophytic strain should be clearly demonstrated. Moreover, the mechanism of plant response to those of bacteria should also be revealed. Consequently, the diversity of endophytic diazotrophic bacteria, the colonization sites and infection pathways, the effect of diazotrophic bacteria on rice growth, as well as the complexity of endophytic diazotrophic bacteria community structure will be reviewed and discussed in this chapter.