Genome sequencing and analysis of plant growth-promoting attributes from Leclercia adecarboxylata

Abstract

Plant growth-promoting bacteria are ecological alternatives for fertilization, mainly for gramineous. Since plant x bacteria interaction is genotype and strain dependent, searching for new strains may contribute to the development of new biofertilizers. We aim to characterize plant growth-promoting capacity of Leclercia adecarboxylata strain Palotina, formerly isolated by our group in corn. A single isolated colony was taken and its genome was sequenced using Illumina technology. The whole genome was compared to other Leclercia adecarboxylata strains, and their biological and growth-promoting traits, such as P solubilization and auxin production, were tested. Following that, a 4.8 Mb genome of L. adecarboxylata strain Palotina was assembled and the functional annotation was carried out. This paper is the first to report the genes associated with plant growth promotion demonstrating in vitro indole acid production by this strain. These results project the endophyte as a potential biofertilizer for further commercial exploitation.

Keywords:
Endophyte; Leclercia; genome; plant growth promotion; strains