Natural Endophytic Occurrence of Acetobacter diazotrophicus in Pineapple Plants

• Published in: Microbial ecology Vol. 39; no. 1; pp. 49 - 55
• Main Authors: A. Tapia-Hernández, M. R. Bustillos-Cristales, T. Jiménez-Salgado, J. Caballero-Mellado, L. E. Fuentes-Ramírez
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY Springer-Verlag New York Inc 01.01.2000; Springer
• Subjects: Acetobacter; Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Bacteria; Biological and medical sciences; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Microbial ecology; Microflora of plants; Nitrogen; Oxidation; Plant growth; Plant roots; Plants; RNA; Stems; Sugar cane; Acetobacteraceae; Ananas comosus; Monocotyledones; Genetic variability; Enzyme; Ribosomal DNA; Vegetal microorganism relation; Identification; Acetobacter diazotrophicus; Protein; Restriction fragment length polymorphism; Fruit crop; Angiospermae; Nitrogen fixation; Bacteria; Endophyte; Bromeliaceae; Spermatophyta; Polymorphism
• ISSN: 0095-3628; 1432-184X
• DOI: 10.1007/s002489900190

The presence of endophytic Acetobacter diazotrophicus was tested for pineapple plants (Ananas comosus [L.] Merr.) grown in the field. Diazotrophic bacteria were isolated from the inner tissues of surface sterilized roots, stems, and leaves of pineapple plants. Phenotypic tests permitted the selection of presumptive nitrogen-fixing A. diazotrophicus isolates. Restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLPs) of small subunit (SSU) rDNA using total DNA digested with endonuclease SphI and with endonuclease NcoI, hybridizations of RNA with an A. diazotrophicus large subunit (LSU) rRNA specific probe, as well as patterns in denaturing protein electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) and multilocus enzyme tests allowed the identification of A. diazotrophicus isolates. High frequencies of isolation were obtained from propagative buds that had not been nitrogen-fertilized, and lower frequencies from 3-month-old plants that had been nitrogen-fertilized. No isolates were recovered from 5- to 7-month-old nitrogen-fertilized plants. All the A. diazotrophicus isolates recovered from pineapple plants belonged to the multilocus genotype which shows the most extensive distribution among all host species previously analyzed.