Prediction of genes associated with plant growth promotion in Bacillus spp. genomes

CORTESE, IJ; ONETTO, AL; BICH, GA; CASTRILLO, ML; LACZESKI, ME

Modalidad virtual

Congreso; 3rd WOMEN IN BIOINFORMATICS & DATA SCIENCE LA; 2022

Translator Plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) are a heterogeneous group of bacteriathat can exert beneficial effects directly or indirectly on plant growth by differentmechanisms. In the last decades, PGPR-based formulations have been used to replacechemical fertilizers. In previous studies, two endophytic endospore-forming bacteriaidentified as Bacillus altitudinis (T5S-T4 and 19RS3) were isolated from the roots of Ilexparaguariensis St. Hil. seedlings and selected for their plant growth-promoting (PGP)properties shown in nursery and in vitro studies. Both genomes were sequenced,assembled, and reported on the NCBI database. The purpose of this work was to locategenes involved in PGP mechanisms in B. altitudinis genomes and other PGP genomesreported for commercial strains. The genomes of B. altitudinis T5S-T4, B. altitudinis19RS3, B. altitudinis W3 (accession number: NZ_CP011150.1) an NCBI referencesequence, B. altitudinis GQYP101 (accession number: NZ_CP040514.1) an NCBIreference sequence reported as PGPR, and B. velezensis FZB42 (accession number:CP000560.2) a commercial PGPR strain used as an active principle of Biomex® andRhizovital®42, were compared to locate genes involved in PGP mechanisms usingGeneious 11.0.1 software. The comparison revealed specific gene clusters involved inPGP properties. All the genomes presented genes associated with the production ofvolatile compounds such as 2,3-butanediol and acetoin. Only B. altitudinis T5S-T4, B.altitudinis 19RS3, and B. velezensis FZB42 showed the presence of genes associatedwith surfactin production. This commercial strain also presented genes for phytase anditurin production. Interestingly, other genes coding for bacilibactin, IAA production, Pi-specific transporter, and PHO regulon were discovered only in our studied strains. ThePGP genes detected agree with the biofertilizer properties observed in othercommercial strains. The results obtained make B. altitudinis T5S-T4 and B. altitudinis19RS3 promissory for their biotechnological application as a biofertilizer