Open AccessCharacterization of rhizobial isolates nodulating M illettia pinnata in India
Author(s) -
Rasul Abdul,
Amalraj E. Leo Daniel,
Praveen Kumar G.,
Grover Minakshi,
Venkateswarlu B.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
fems microbiology letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.899
H-Index - 151
eISSN - 1574-6968
pISSN - 0378-1097
DOI - 10.1111/1574-6968.12001
Subject(s) - traditional medicine , microbiology and biotechnology , biology , chemistry , medicine
M illettia pinnata (Synonym P ongamia pinnata ) is a viable source of oil for the mushrooming biofuel industry, source for agroforestry, urban landscaping, and the bio‐amelioration of degraded lands. It also helps in maintaining soil fertility through symbiotic nitrogen fixation. However, not much work is reported on classification and characterization of the rhizobia associated with this plant. In the present study, an attempt was made to isolate rhizobial strains nodulating M illettia from soils collected from southern regions of India. The isolates were characterized using numerical taxonomy, 16 S r RNA gene sequencing, and cross nodulation ability. The results showed high phenotypic and genetic diversity among the rhizobia symbiotic with M illattia pinnata . The isolates formed five clusters at similarity level of 0.82 based on the results of numerical taxonomy. Results on 16 S r RNA gene sequence analysis revealed that most microsymbionts of M . pinnata belonged to R hizobium and B radyrhizobium, which are closely related to R hizobium sp., B . elkanii and B . yuanmingense . Among these isolates, some isolates could grow in a p H range of 4.0–10.0, some could tolerate a high salt concentration (3% N a C l) and could grow at a maximum temperature between 35 and 45 °C. M . pinnata formed nodules with diverse rhizobia in Indian soils. These results offered the first systematic information about the microsymbionts of M . pinnata grown in the soils from southern part of India.