Format: ORAL

Surendra K. Gond1, Rusi Lata1, James F. White2

1 Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi-221005, India 2 Rutgers University, New Brunswick NJ, USA

The microorganisms which survive within healthy tissues of plants without causing any overt negative effect to the host are defined as endophytic microbes. These microbes develop a mutualistic relationship with their host and promote plant growth under different biotic and abiotic stresses. The endophytic bacteria were isolated and molecularly identified from different maize varieties including ancestral Teosinte and Chloris grass. Plant protection and stress tolerance was observed by treating endophytic bacteria to non-host plant. The over expression of stress tolerance genes of plants was analysed by qPCR (quantitative PCR). The plant salt stress tolerance was observed by up-regulation of the aquaporin gene family in maize plant treated with endophytic bacterium Pantoeaagglomerans. The plasma membrane integral protein type 2 (PIP2-1) gene in tropical corn seedlings was highly up-regulated byP.agglomeranstreatment under salt stress conditions. The species of endophytic Bacillus showed up-regulation of several defense genes of maize plant against biotic stress also. The induction of expression of pathogenesis-related genes, including PR-1, PR-4 and PR-10 was observed against fungal pathogen in maize seedlings treated with endophytic Bacillus. Plant protection was also observed in maize seedlings and Arabidopsis thaliana treated with endophytic Bacillus against fungal pathogen Fusarium moniliforme. The study suggests that endophytic bacteria may be further formulated and applied for the plant stress tolerance and disease protection.