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Plant endophytes: unveiling hidden applications toward agro-environment sustainability

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Abstract

Endophytic microbes are plant-associated microorganisms that reside in the interior tissue of plants without causing damage to the host plant. Endophytic microbes can boost the availability of nutrient for plant by using a variety of mechanisms such as fixing nitrogen, solubilizing phosphorus, potassium, and zinc, and producing siderophores, ammonia, hydrogen cyanide, and phytohormones that help plant for growth and protection against various abiotic and biotic stresses. The microbial endophytes have attained the mechanism of producing various hydrolytic enzymes such as cellulase, pectinase, xylanase, amylase, gelatinase, and bioactive compounds for plant growth promotion and protection. The efficient plant growth promoting endophytic microbes could be used as an alternative of chemical fertilizers for agro-environmental sustainability. Endophytic microbes belong to different phyla including Euryarchaeota, Ascomycota, Basidiomycota, Mucoromycota, Firmicutes, Proteobacteria, and Actinobacteria. The most pre-dominant group of bacteria belongs to Proteobacteria including α-, β-, γ-, and δ-Proteobacteria. The least diversity of the endophytic microbes have been revealed from Bacteroidetes, Deinococcus-Thermus, and Acidobacteria. Among reported genera, Achromobacter, Burkholderia, Bacillus, Enterobacter, Herbaspirillum, Pseudomonas, Pantoea, Rhizobium, and Streptomyces were dominant in most host plants. The present review deals with plant endophytic diversity, mechanisms of plant growth promotion, protection, and their role for agro-environmental sustainability. In the future, application of endophytic microbes have potential role in enhancement of crop productivity and maintaining the soil health in sustainable manner.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the Department of Biotechnology, Akal College of Agriculture, Eternal University, Baru Sahib and Department of Environment, Science & Technology (DEST), Shimla, HP funded project “Development of microbial consortium as bio-inoculants for drought and low temperature growing crops for organic farming in Himachal Pradesh” for providing the facilities and financial support, to undertake the investigations.

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RN, BS, TK, and RD compiled the review and SK, KKC, and AY finalized the figures and tables. The review has been checked and revised by DK and ANY.

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Correspondence to Ajar Nath Yadav.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Negi, R., Sharma, B., Kumar, S. et al. Plant endophytes: unveiling hidden applications toward agro-environment sustainability. Folia Microbiol 69, 181–206 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12223-023-01092-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12223-023-01092-6

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