Molecular Biodiversity of Bacteria Isolated from Medicago sativa Rhizosphere in Haʼil District, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Worldwide biodiversity is impacted strikingly by global environmental change, and thus its impact is reflected in all life aspects. Identifying microorganisms in environmental samples, particularly soil could be a valuable interest to study their effect on soil quality and plant growth. Through this study, we conducted a molecular characterization of bacteria found in the rhizosphere of Medicago sativa plants grown in Hai'l soil and we highlighted their main properties. The analysis of sequences revealed that the main bacterial isolates were Pseudarthrobacter, Metabacillus, Priestia, and Massilia species. According to the sequence analyses and the phylogeny tree results, some of the identified bacteria were classified at the species level: one of the pseudarthrobacter isolates was identified clearly as Pseudarthrobacter phenanthrenivorans; Metabacillus isolates grouped with Metabacillus sediminilitoris and the two Priestia isolates closely related to Priestia aryabhattai. We concluded that Hai'l soil is a niche of diverse bacteria with a high interest in soil environment and ecosystems. Further studies are required for further classification of all identified bacteria and to define their specific role in the environment.