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Identification and characterization of the part of the bacterial community associated with field-grown tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea) cv. SFRO Don Tomás in Uruguay

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Abstract

The aims of this study were to isolate, characterize and identify the native culturable putative endophytic bacterial community associated with tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea) cv. SFRO Don Tomás, cultivated in Uruguay, and to study the effects of inoculation on cv. SFRO Don Tomás and the commercial cv. Tacuabé. A total of 342 isolates were collected from surface-sterilized roots, stems and seeds of healthy cv. SFRO Don Tomás. The functional ability of the isolates to produce indole, to solubilize minerals (P, Fe, K) and to biologically fix molecular nitrogen (N2) was determined. Several infection traits, such as the ability to produce proteases, peroxidases, cellulases and hemicellulases, were identified in the isolates. Selected bacterial isolates were identified by 16S rRNA sequencing and shown to belong to a broad spectrum of genera, including Bacillus, Microbacterium, Curtobacterium, Streptomyces, Acidovorax, Variovorax, Acinetobacter, Pseudomonas, Pantoea, Rhanella and Xanthomonas. Plant growth promotion assays shown that ten isolates were able to promote the growth of cv. SFRO Don Tomás under gnotobiotic conditions, thereby highlighting the potential of these isolates in biotechnological applications as inoculant for this cultivar which is highly adapted to dry and cold seasons.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by grants from the Alianza para el desarrollo fund (Project ALI-1-2012-1-3269) of the Uruguayan National Agency for Innovation and Research (ANII), and the Uruguayan Program for the Development of the Basic Science (PEDECIBA). The authors are very grateful to the members of the Rural Promotion Society Ortiz (SFRO) Ing. Agr. Santiago Larghero and José Mesa.

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  1. Microbial Biochemistry and Genomics Department, Clemente Estable Biological Research Institute, Avenida Italia 3318, Montevideo, 11600, Uruguay

    María Cecilia de los Santos, Cecilia Taulé, Cintia Mareque, Martin Beracochea & Federico Battistoni

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  1. María Cecilia de los Santos
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  2. Cecilia Taulé
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de los Santos, M.C., Taulé, C., Mareque, C. et al. Identification and characterization of the part of the bacterial community associated with field-grown tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea) cv. SFRO Don Tomás in Uruguay. Ann Microbiol 66, 329–342 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13213-015-1113-2

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