From roots to leaves: the capacity of Micromonospora to colonize different legume tissues

Abstract

An important number of Micromonospora strains have been reported from nitrogen fixing root nodules of legume and actinorhizal plants. However, the question of whether this bacterium can also be found in other parts of these plants remains unanswered. Over 150 strains were recovered from different Lupinus angustifolius and Pisum sativum tissues including leaves, stems, roots, and nodules. Ninety-seven percent of the isolates were identified by 16S rRNA gene sequence in the target genus and were associated with 27 different Micromonospora species. Plant-polymer degrading enzymes are suspected to play a role in the colonization of plants. To this end, bacterial enzymatic activity assays for amylases, cellulases, chitinases, pectinases and xylanases were determined. All strains produced xylanases and pectinases, while 98.6%, 98%, and 94.6% of them produced amylases, cellulases, and chitinases, respectively. The most productive strains included seven isolates from P. sativum and one from L. angustifolius. Strain Micromonospora lupini ML01-gfp was used to determine its capacity to reach and colonize different plant organs using P. sativum as the plant model. Stem and leaf samples were monitored by optical and fluorescence microscopy to locate the tagged strain. These results strongly suggest that Micromonospora is able, not only to infect nitrogen-fixing nodules, but also of reaching other parts of the host plant, especially the leaves.