TY - JOUR
T1 - Plant Growth Promotion, Phytohormone Production and Genomics of the Rhizosphere-Associated Microalga, Micractinium rhizosphaerae sp. nov.
AU - Quintas-Nunes, Francisco
AU - Brandão, Pedro R.
AU - Barreto Crespo, Maria T.
AU - Glick, Bernard R.
AU - Nascimento, Francisco X.
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was funded by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia/Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Ensino Superior (FCT/MCTES, Portugal) through national funds to iNOVA4Health (UIDB/04462/2020 and UIDP/04462/2020) and the Associate Laboratory LS4FUTURE (LA/P/0087/2020).
Funding Information:
F.Q.-N. and P.R.B. acknowledge receiving a PhD fellowship from FCT (2022.10633.BD; 2021.07927.BD514, respectively).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 by the authors.
PY - 2023/2
Y1 - 2023/2
N2 - Microalgae are important members of the soil and plant microbiomes, playing key roles in the maintenance of soil and plant health as well as in the promotion of plant growth. However, not much is understood regarding the potential of different microalgae strains in augmenting plant growth, or the mechanisms involved in such activities. In this work, the functional and genomic characterization of strain NFX-FRZ, a eukaryotic microalga belonging to the Micractinium genus that was isolated from the rhizosphere of a plant growing in a natural environment in Portugal, is presented and analyzed. The results obtained demonstrate that strain NFX-FRZ (i) belongs to a novel species, termed Micractinium rhizosphaerae sp. nov.; (ii) can effectively bind to tomato plant tissues and promote its growth; (iii) can synthesize a wide range of plant growth-promoting compounds, including phytohormones such as indole-3-acetic acid, salicylic acid, jasmonic acid and abscisic acid; and (iv) contains multiple genes involved in phytohormone biosynthesis and signaling. This study provides new insights regarding the relevance of eukaryotic microalgae as plant growth-promoting agents and helps to build a foundation for future studies regarding the origin and evolution of phytohormone biosynthesis and signaling, as well as other plant colonization and plant growth-promoting mechanisms in soil/plant-associated Micractinium.
AB - Microalgae are important members of the soil and plant microbiomes, playing key roles in the maintenance of soil and plant health as well as in the promotion of plant growth. However, not much is understood regarding the potential of different microalgae strains in augmenting plant growth, or the mechanisms involved in such activities. In this work, the functional and genomic characterization of strain NFX-FRZ, a eukaryotic microalga belonging to the Micractinium genus that was isolated from the rhizosphere of a plant growing in a natural environment in Portugal, is presented and analyzed. The results obtained demonstrate that strain NFX-FRZ (i) belongs to a novel species, termed Micractinium rhizosphaerae sp. nov.; (ii) can effectively bind to tomato plant tissues and promote its growth; (iii) can synthesize a wide range of plant growth-promoting compounds, including phytohormones such as indole-3-acetic acid, salicylic acid, jasmonic acid and abscisic acid; and (iv) contains multiple genes involved in phytohormone biosynthesis and signaling. This study provides new insights regarding the relevance of eukaryotic microalgae as plant growth-promoting agents and helps to build a foundation for future studies regarding the origin and evolution of phytohormone biosynthesis and signaling, as well as other plant colonization and plant growth-promoting mechanisms in soil/plant-associated Micractinium.
KW - genomics
KW - Micractinium
KW - microalgae
KW - phytohormones
KW - plant growth
KW - rhizosphere
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85147921625&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/plants12030651
DO - 10.3390/plants12030651
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85147921625
SN - 2223-7747
VL - 12
JO - Plants
JF - Plants
IS - 3
M1 - 651
ER -