Streptomyces sp. mitigates abiotic stress response and promotes plant growth

Abstract

Coexisting microorganisms are abundant in nature. Plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) is a group of beneficial microorganism living around the roots of plants which are able to confer beneficial effects on plant growth. Streptomyces sp. is a gram-positive bacteria as PGPR that can promote plant growth and enhance tolerance in adverse environment. This research was aimed to study the effects of plant growth promotion and stress tolerance of Streptomyces sp. in Arabidopsis and Brassica sp. The amount of indole-acetic acid (IAA) and phosphate solubility were assessed from isolated bacterial. Plant growth promotion was examined in 10-days old seedling with three independent experiments. Our results showed that Streptomyces sp. produced moderate levels of IAA and it was able to solubilize phosphate. Inoculation of Streptomyces sp. enhanced lateral root number, fresh weight and chlorophyll content in Arabidopsis thaliana. Moreover, the inoculation of Streptomyces sp. significantly increased vegetative growth on Arabidopsis and Brassica sp. by producing higher fresh weight and chlorophyll content. Streptomyces sp. also enhanced tolerance to abiotic stress in Arabidopsis and Brassica sp. by increasing fresh weight under condition of salt and heat stress. Under salt stress, inoculation of Streptomyces sp. in Arabidopsis induced activity of catalase enzyme and decreased hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and malondialdehyde (MDA) production. In the molecular levels, Streptomyces sp. induced protein accumulations in Arabidopsis including nitrogen assimilation (GS1), carbohydrate metabolism (cFBPase), and the light-harvesting chlorophyll (Lhcb1) protein.