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Growth of Quailbush in Acidic, Metalliferous Desert Mine Tailings: Effect of Azospirillum brasilense Sp6 on Biomass Production and Rhizosphere Community Structure

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Abstract

Mine tailing deposits in semiarid and arid environments frequently remain devoid of vegetation due to the toxicity of the substrate and the absence of a diverse soil microbial community capable of supporting seed germination and plant growth. The contribution of the plant growth promoting bacterium (PGPB) Azospirillum brasilense Sp6 to the growth of quailbush in compost-amended, moderately acidic, high-metal content mine tailings using an irrigation-based reclamation strategy was examined along with its influence on the rhizosphere bacterial community. Sp6 inoculation resulted in a significant (2.2-fold) increase in plant biomass production. The data suggest that the inoculum successfully colonized the root surface and persisted throughout the 60-day experiment in both the rhizosphere, as demonstrated by excision and sequencing of the appropriate denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) band, and the rhizoplane, as indicated by fluorescent in situ hybridization of root surfaces. Changes in rhizosphere community structure in response to Sp6 inoculation were evaluated after 15, 30, and 60 days using DGGE analysis of 16S rRNA polymerase chain reaction amplicons. A comparison of DGGE profiles using canonical correspondence analysis revealed a significant treatment effect (Sp6-inoculated vs. uninoculated plants vs. unplanted) on bacterial community structure at 15, 30, and 60 days (p < 0.05). These data indicate that in an extremely stressed environment such as acid mine tailings, an inoculated plant growth promoting bacterium not only can persist and stimulate plant growth but also can directly or indirectly influence rhizobacterial community development.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Julia Neilson, Antje Legatzki, Sadie Iverson, Christopher Grandlic, and Fernando Solis for numerous helpful discussions and Alexis Valentin-Vargas for enumeration of neutrophilic heterotrophs. We also thank Anton Hartmann and Michael Schmidt from the German Research Center for Environmental Health, Münich, Germany, for advising on FISH development. We thank Veerle Keijers and Jos Vanderleyden at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Leuven, Belgium, for providing A. brasilense Sp6. This research was supported by grant 2 P42 ES04940-11 from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Superfund Basic Research Program, National Institutes of Health (USA), and by grant 50052-Z from Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnologia- Basic Research (CONACYT) Mexico.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Soil, Water and Environmental Science, University of Arizona, 429 Shantz Bldg. #38, 1177 E. Fourth Street, Tucson, AZ, 85721-0038, USA

    Luz E. de-Bashan, Karis N. Nelson, Yoav Bashan & Raina M. Maier

  2. Environmental Microbiology Group, Northwestern Center for Biological Research (CIBNOR), La Paz, B.C.S., Mexico

    Luz E. de-Bashan, Juan-Pablo Hernandez & Yoav Bashan

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  1. Luz E. de-Bashan
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Correspondence to Raina M. Maier.

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de-Bashan, L.E., Hernandez, JP., Nelson, K.N. et al. Growth of Quailbush in Acidic, Metalliferous Desert Mine Tailings: Effect of Azospirillum brasilense Sp6 on Biomass Production and Rhizosphere Community Structure. Microb Ecol 60, 915–927 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00248-010-9713-7

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