Isolation and Assessment of Metabolic Potentials of Bacteria Endophytic to Carnivorous Plants Drosera burmannii and Utricularia spp.

Abstract

Carnivorous plants with unique mode of nutrition and physiology have attracted the attention of the microbiologists in studying the microbial diversity inherent in their internal environment. This work is aimed to study the culturable endophytic diversity of the carnivorous plants Drosera burmannii Vahl., Utricularia stellaris L. f. and U. exoleta R. Br. collected from different districts of West Bengal, India. During the study, a total of 168 phenotypically distinct endophytic bacteria were isolated and their colonization frequency, isolation rate, Shanon-Weaver, Gleason and Simpson diversity indices were analyzed. The metabolic activities of these endophytic isolates have been evaluated following standard microbiological methods. A preliminary screening have led to the selection of nineteen bacterial isolates having potent antimicrobial, antioxidant, proteolytic and plant growth promoting activities involving IAA and siderophore production as well as phosphate solubilization. Detailed phenotypic characterization followed by the determination of simple matching coefficient has tentatively assigned these potent endophytic bacterial isolates to the genera Bacillus, Acetobacterium, Pseudomonas, Klebsiella, Alcaligens and Xanthomonas. The metabolic attributes of these bacterial endophytes leading to the production of bioactive compounds therefore deserve special attention in understanding the survival and growth strategies of the carnivorous hosts in nutrient deficient environment as well as exploring their biosynthetic products in human health and hygiene.