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Identification of Diazotrophs in the Culturable Bacterial Community Associated with Roots of Lasiurus sindicus, a Perennial Grass of Thar Desert, India

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Abstract

Lasiurus sindicus is a highly nutritive, drought-tolerant, perennial grass that is endemic to the Thar Desert of Rajasthan, India. Analysis of 16S rRNA coding genes of the bacterial isolates enriched in nitrogen-free semisolid medium, from the surface-sterilized roots of L. sindicus, showed predominance of Gram-negative over Gram-positive bacteria. According to comparative sequence analysis of 16S rDNA sequence data, Gram-positive bacteria with low GC content (Staphylococcus warneri and Bacillus sp.) and high GC content (Micrococcus luteus, Microbacterium sp.) were identified. Gram-negative bacteria included Azospirillum sp., Rhizobium sp., Agrobacterium tumefaciens, and Inquilinus limosus (α-proteobacteria); Ralstonia sp., Variovorax paradoxus, and Bordetella petrii (β-proteobacteria); and Pseudomonas pseudoalcaligenes, Stenotrophomonas sp. (γ-proteobacteria). The occurrence of nifH sequences in Azospirillum sp., Rhizobium sp., and P. pseudoalcaligenes showed the possibility of supplying biologically fixed nitrogen by the root-associated diazotrophs to the host plant.

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Acknowledgments

This work was part of the activities carried out by the Centre for Research on Bacteria and Archaea program of “All India Coordinated Project in Taxonomy,” supported by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, New Delhi. We are grateful to Dr. S. N. Johri, Director (Agriculture), Rajasthan, for valuable support in the collection of L. sindicus from its native habitat. Support in the form of fellowships to SPC from the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, New Delhi, and Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst, Bonn, is gratefully acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Biotechnology, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, 221005, India

    Soumitra Paul Chowdhury & Anil Kumar Tripathi

  2. Department of Microbe-Plant-Interactions, GSF-National Research Centre for Environment and Health, Neuherberg/Munich, Germany

    Michael Schmid & Anton Hartmann

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  1. Soumitra Paul Chowdhury
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  2. Michael Schmid
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  4. Anil Kumar Tripathi
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Correspondence to Anil Kumar Tripathi.

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Chowdhury, S.P., Schmid, M., Hartmann, A. et al. Identification of Diazotrophs in the Culturable Bacterial Community Associated with Roots of Lasiurus sindicus, a Perennial Grass of Thar Desert, India. Microb Ecol 54, 82–90 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00248-006-9174-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00248-006-9174-1

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