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Characterization of potassium-solubilizing fungi, Mortierella spp., isolated from a poplar plantation rhizosphere soil

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Abstract

Potassium-solubilizing microorganisms are capable of secreting acidic chemicals that dissolve and release potassium from soil minerals, thus facilitating potassium uptake by plants. In this study, three potassium-dissolving filamentous fungi were isolated from the rhizosphere soil of a poplar plantation in Jiangsu Province, China. Phylogenetic analyses based on ITS, 18 S, and 28 S showed that these three isolates were most similar to Mortierella. These strains also possessed spherical or ellipsoidal spores, produced sporangia at the hyphal tip, and formed petal-like colonies on PDA media resembling those of Mortierella species. These findings, along with further phenotypic observations, suggest that these isolates were Mortierella species. In addition, the potassium-dissolution experiment showed that strain 2K4 had a relatively high potassium-solubilizing capacity among these isolated fungi. By investigating the influences of different nutrient conditions (carbon source, nitrogen source, and inorganic salt) and initial pH values on the potassium-dissolving ability, the optimal potassium-solubilization conditions of the isolate were determined. When potassium feldspar powder was used as an insoluble potassium source, isolate 2K4 exhibited a significantly better polysaccharide aggregation ability on the formed mycelium–potassium feldspar complex. The composition and content of organic acids secreted by strain 2K4 were further detected, and the potassium-dissolution mechanism of the Mortierella species and its growth promotion effect were discussed, using maize as an example.

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Data availability

All datasets used/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding authors on reasonable request.

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Funding

This research was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of China, grant number 31570107 and the National Key Research and Development Program of China, grant number 2021YFD02200403.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Ecology and Environment, Nanjing Forestry University, 159 Longpan Road, Nanjing, 210037, China

    Rui Zhu, Long Jin, Yue Sang, Shuang Hu, Bao-Teng Wang & Feng-Jie Jin

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  1. Rui Zhu
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  2. Long Jin
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  3. Yue Sang
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  4. Shuang Hu
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  5. Bao-Teng Wang
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  6. Feng-Jie Jin
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Contributions

R.Z.: conceptualization, data curation, and writing—original draft preparation; L.J.: conceptualization, data curation, supervision, and writing—reviewing and editing; Y. S., S.H., and B.-T.W.: data curation and visualization; F.-J.J.: supervision and writing—reviewing and editing. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Feng-Jie Jin.

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Communicated by Sanjai Saxena.

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Zhu, R., Jin, L., Sang, Y. et al. Characterization of potassium-solubilizing fungi, Mortierella spp., isolated from a poplar plantation rhizosphere soil. Arch Microbiol 206, 157 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00203-024-03912-w

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