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Antarctic rhizobacteria improve salt tolerance and physiological performance of the Antarctic vascular plants

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Abstract

The two native Antarctic vascular plants, Deschampsia antarctica and Colobanthus quitensis, are mostly restricted to coastal habitats where they are often exposed to sea spray with high levels of salinity. Most of the studies regarding the ability of C. quitensis and D. antarctica to cope with abiotic stress have been focused on their physiological adaptations to tolerate cold stress, but little is known about their tolerance to salinity. We investigated whether rhizospheric bacteria associated to D. antarctica and C. quitensis improve the ability of Antarctic plants to tolerate salt stress. Salt tolerance was assayed in rhizospheric bacteria, and also their effects on the ecophysiological performance (photochemical efficiency of PSII, growth, and survival) of both plants were assessed under salt stress. A total of eight bacterial rhizospheric strains capable of growing at 4 °C were isolated. The strains isolated from D. antarctica showed higher levels of salt tolerance than those strains isolated from C. quitensis. The ecophysiological performance of C. quitensis and D. antarctica was significantly increased when plants were inoculated with rhizospheric bacteria. Our results suggest that rhizospheric bacteria improve the ability of both plants to tolerate salinity stress with positive effects on the adaptation and survival of vascular plants to current conditions in Antarctic ecosystem.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the financial and logistic support of the Chilean Antarctic Institute (INACH Projects: RT-14-08 and RT-11-13. This study was supported by the FONDECYT 3160333 project. This article contributes to the SCAR biological research programs: “Antarctic Thresholds—Ecosystem Resilience and Adaptation” (AnT-ERA) and “State of the Antarctic Ecosystem” (Ant-Eco). The funding was provided by CONICYT (Grant Number: PII20150126).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centro de Estudios en Ecología Molecular y Funcional, Instituto de Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad de Talca, Avda. Lircay s/n, Talca, Chile

    Jorge Gallardo-Cerda, Andrea Barrera & Marco A. Molina-Montenegro

  2. Laboratorio de Biorrecursos Antárticos, Instituto Antártico Chileno (INACH), Punta Arenas, Chile

    Juana Levihuan

  3. Laboratorio de Complejidad Microbiana y Ecología Funcional, Universidad de Antofagasta, Antofagasta, Chile

    Paris Lavín

  4. Centro Regional de Investigación y Desarrollo Sustentable de Atacama (CRIDESAT). Av. Copayapu n° 485, Universidad de Atacama, Copiapó, Chile

    Romulo Oses

  5. Laboratorio de Anatomía y Ecología Funcional de Plantas (AEF), Instituto de Biología, Facultad de Ciencias, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Valparaíso, Chile

    Cristian Atala

  6. Grupo de Biodiversidad y Cambio Global (BCG), Departamento de Ciencias Básicas, Universidad del Bío-Bío, Chillan, Chile

    Cristian Torres-Díaz

  7. Departamento de Ciencias y Tecnología Vegetal, Campus Los Ángeles, Universidad de Concepción, Los Ángeles, Chile

    Marely Cuba-Díaz

  8. Centro de Estudios Avanzados en Zonas Áridas (CEAZA), Facultad de Ciencias del Mar, Universidad Católica del Norte, Coquimbo, Chile

    Marco A. Molina-Montenegro

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  1. Jorge Gallardo-Cerda
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  2. Juana Levihuan
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  3. Paris Lavín
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  4. Romulo Oses
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  9. Marco A. Molina-Montenegro
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Correspondence to Jorge Gallardo-Cerda.

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Gallardo-Cerda, J., Levihuan, J., Lavín, P. et al. Antarctic rhizobacteria improve salt tolerance and physiological performance of the Antarctic vascular plants. Polar Biol 41, 1973–1982 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-018-2336-z

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