Bacteria Better Together to Improve Plant Health
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Researchers from the BacBio Laboratory of the University of Malaga have shown for the first time that the combination of bacteria ' Bacillus subtilis' and 'Pseudomonas' can improve the health of plants.
A finding that has been published by the prestigious scientific journal ' Nature Communication' , since it shows the protective role of these two bacteria when they are in the same space.
"It was already known that some bacteria, separately, contributed to the improvement of some vegetables, for example, to their growth. With this work, we have gone a step further, proving that mixing them can have even greater benefits, "says the professor of the Department of Microbiology Diego Romero, principal investigator of BacBio.
In this sense, the expert explains that until now it was thought that both bacteria were excluded, so this study shows not only that they can live together, but also how their combined use in a combined way enhances their positive effects for the plant.
"The applications are endless. Beyond the drive to sustainable agriculture from the reduction of fertilizers, these results can have an impact on any area of research, such as resistance to antibiotics, "says Romero.
The researcher Carlos Molina-Santiago is the main author of this article, in which a dozen members of the Laboratory have participated and which, in addition, has counted with the collaboration of research groups of the University of Bordeaux, of the University of San Diego (USA), in addition to Dr. John R. Pearson, of Bionand.
The study has been financed with European funds from the ERC-Starting Grant, which promote research projects of the highest quality. The Office of Transfer of Research Results (OTRI), through the transfer promotion service, has offered its support and support to this initiative.
The BacBIO Laboratory , located in the Bioinnovation building of the UMA, has been working since 2013 on the study of the physiology of bacteria, as well as their interaction with the environment. The plants are other of their priority lines of study, specifically, cucurbits, among which is the melon and cucumber.
This article has been republished from materials provided by the University of Malaga. Note: material may have been edited for length and content. For further information, please contact the cited source.
Reference
The extracellular matrix protects Bacillus subtilis colonies from Pseudomonas invasion and modulates plant co-colonization. Carlos Molina-Santiago, John R. Pearson, Yurena Navarro, María Victoria Berlanga-Clavero, Andrés Mauricio Caraballo-Rodriguez, Daniel Petras, María Luisa García-Martín, Gaelle Lamon, Birgit Haberstein, Francisco M. Cazorla, Antonio de Vicente, Antoine Loquet, Pieter C. Dorrestein & Diego Romero. Nature Communications, volume 10, Article number: 1919 (2019), https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-09944-x.
