Appearance of Membrane Compromised, Viable but Not Culturable and Culturable Rhizobial Cells as a Consequence of Desiccation

Abstract

49 For agricultural purposes, drought related stresses negatively 50 affect the Rhizobiaceae in at least three ways. Firstly, 51 rhizobial populations are affected by desertification of 52 agricultural soils. Secondly, the quality of dry-base inocula, 53 also called formula, is negatively affected by a drying step, 54 and thirdly, rhizosphere bacteria protect crop-plants against 55 drought. Although survival of cultivatable bacteria has been 56 studied intensively in dry-base seed inocula and in-vitro, thus 57 far research has only marginally addressed the bacterial cell, 58 its cellular structures and physiology. Many questions remain 59 regarding the sensing of and physiological response of rhizobia 60 to desiccation. This review will focus on the three different 61 fractions of cells after desiccation, the membrane compromised 62 cells, the viable but not culturable cells and the culturable 63 cells. 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72