Abstract
Earthworms are considered as a rich microhabitat for the growth and proliferation of diverse soil microorganisms. Hence, earthworms’ associated bacteria attracted interest due to their high metabolic profiles and benefits to soil fertility and plant growth. In this study, we aimed to isolate for the first-time aerobic bacteria present in the chloragogenous tissue of the earthworm Apporectodea molleri and test their Plant Growth-Promoting abilities and their resistance to heavy metals (Mn, Zn, Cu, Cd, and Ni). The 16S rRNA gene sequencing revealed the affiliation of the fifteen isolates to six main bacterial genera: Enterobacter, Citrobacter, Aeromonas, Pseudomonas, Bacillus, Terribacillus. These strains displayed different plant growth promoting traits (e.g., indole-3-acetic acid IAA, siderophores, nitrogen fixation, phosphate, and potassium solubilization), in addition, they were able to resist differently to heavy metals. Bacillus strains were most effective as three strains, namely B. subtilis strain TC34; B. circulans strain TC7 and Bacillus sp. strain TC10, were positive to all PGP traits and resisted to all heavy metals. This study illustrates the potential of bacteria from the chloragogenous tissue to exhibit multiple properties, which can be related to the functional feature of this tissue to stock metabolites and neutralize toxic elements.
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Acknowledgements
This work was done partially at Ataturk University, Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Soil Science, Erzurum, Turkey. We express our gratitude to all the department staff for their help and support. Our thanks to Prof. Dr. Jorge Dominguez for performing the earthworm molecular identification sampled from Rabat – Morocco. This work was supported by the National Center for Scientific and Technical Research (CNRST—Morocco) under the Research Excellence Scholarship Program.
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SH: conceived and designed the experience, conducted the experiences, and collected data, wrote the manuscript; LY: conceived, designed and contributed during the experiences; SB: conceived and designed the experience, supervised the work, and contribute to the final form of the manuscript; MR: helped in the data analysis and contribute in the final form of the manuscript; AEH: conceived the original idea and contribute in the final form of the manuscript; SA: conceived and designed the experience, supervised the work, and contribute in the final form of the manuscript; all authors provided critical feedback and helped shape the research, analysis, and manuscript.
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Houida, S., Yakkou, L., Bilen, S. et al. Taxonomic and functional characteristics of aerobic bacteria isolated from the chloragogenous tissue of the earthworm Aporrectodea molleri. Arch Microbiol 203, 4805–4812 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00203-021-02396-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00203-021-02396-2