Endophytic Bacteria in Halophyte May be Growth-Promoting Agent: Study

Halophytes are adapted to saline soils and occur naturally in saline areas associated with saline semi-deserts, saline marshes, salt lakes, tidal floodways, and coastlines. Thus, revegetation of saline soils with halophytes is regarded as a proactive phytoremediation method to improve soils. 

Halophytes exhibit special morphological and molecular mechanisms to tackle the threat from salt, however, the phenomenon of salinity tolerance could be atributed to a very complex synthesis of various mechanisms and the nature remains unresolved. This considerations beg the question of whether there are more secrets behind the halophyte’s salt-resistance. In other words, what is the extra mechanism employed by halophytes to resist salt stress?   

“Symbiotic microorganism exists in all plants living in the natural ecosystems. This relationship may be the key factor involved in plants’ stress-tolerance ability” said TIAN Changyan, scientists from the Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography (XIEG) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. 

TIAN and his team made an analysis on the endophytic bacterial communities in Salicornia europaea, a pioneer plant of salt marsh vegetation, common in Xinjiang. They found S. europaeaa harbours diverse endophytic bacteria, and five culturable bacterial strains among 105 isolates obtained from the plant could promote the seed-germination and the growth of seedlings under saline stress conditions. 

“This may shed light on our future study to enhance the salt resistance capability of halophytes. Although some halophyte species need modest salt concentration for their growth, the initial establishment of halophyte seed is delayed under conditions of high salt stress. With the help of their endophytic bacterial community, plants could be widely planted in more serious saline environments,” said TIAN. 

The studies were published on Current Microbiology entitled “High Throughput Sequencing Analysis the Endophytic Bacterial Diversity and Dynamics in Roots of the Halophyte Salicornia europaea” and “Isolation of Endophytic Plant Growth-Promoting Bacteria Associated with the Halophyte Salicornia europaea and Evaluation of their Promoting Activity Under Salt Stress”.