• The Korean Journal of Mycology
• /
• v.42 no.2
• /
• pp.178-182
• /
• 2014

Yeasts are common inhabitants of the phyllosphere, but our knowledge of their diversity in various fruits and blossoms are limited. We collected different kinds of blossoms and unripened fruits from Hanbat arboretum, Daejeon, Korea at the year of 2013. Yeasts were isolated by plating of suspensions prepared for collected samples onto YPD medium containing antibiotics. BLAST searches were subsequently performed for the comparison of the partially determined sequences of D1/D2 domain of 26S rDNA. As a result, we isolated 57 yeast strains of 31 species from 29 different kinds of blossoms and 6 kinds of fruits samples. We found huge differences in yeast flora depending on the sample collection season.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.16 no.10
• /
• pp.1622-1628
• /
• 2006

Bacteria from the Methylobacterium genus, called pink-pigmented facultative methylotrophic bacteria (PPFMs), are common inhabitants of plants, potentially dominating the phyllosphere population, and are also encountered in the rhizosphere, seeds, and other parts of plants, being versatile in nature. The consistent success of the Methylobacterium plant association relies on methylotrophy, the ability to utilize the one-carbon compound methanol emitted by plants. However, the efficiency of Methylobacterium in plant growth promotion could be better exploited and thus has attracted increasing interest in recent years. Accordingly, the present study investigated the inoculation effects of Methylobacterium sp. strains CBMB20 and CBMB 110 on seed imbibition to tomato and red pepper on the growth and accumulation of phytohormone levels under gnotobiotic conditions. Seeds treated with the Methylobacterium strains showed a significant increase in root length when compared with either the uninoculated control or Methylobacterium extorquens $miaA^-$ knockout mutanttreated seeds. Extracts of the plant samples were used for indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), trans-zeatin riboside (t-ZR), and dihydrozeatin riboside (DHZR) assays by immunoanalysis. The treatment with Methylobacterium sp. CBMB20 or CBMB 110 produced significant increases in the accumulation of IAA and the cytokinins t-ZR and DHZR in the red pepper extracts, whereas no IAA was detected in the tomato extracts, although the cytokinin concentrations were significantly increased. Therefore, this study proved that the versatility of Methylobacterium as a plant-growth promoting bacteria could be better exploited.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
• /
• v.33 no.4
• /
• pp.262-266
• /
• 1997

Total, direct viable count, and acid-tolerant epiphytic bacterial population sizes were quantified on leaves of chestnut tree (Castanea crenata S. et Z.) near Taejon Industrial Estate affected by acid precipitation and deposition as well as in the clean natural forest area, Mt. Kyejok, in Taejon city from August 1996 to August 1997. Geometric mean numbers of total, direct viable count, and acid-tolerant epiphytic bacteria were $9.9{\times}10^5cell/cm^2$, $1.6{\times}10^6cell/cm^2$, and $7.1{\times}10^3cfu/cm^2$ respectively, being 1.5, 2, and 2.6 times those in the clean area. Acid-tolerant epiphytic bacterial numbers at pH 5.6 by MPN method were $3.3{\times}10^4$ in the industrial area, about the same as the number, $3.4{\times}10^4MPN/cm^2$, of the clean area. Acid-tolerant bacterial number at pH 4.0 was $1.9{\times}10^{-1}MPN/cm^2$ in the industrial area, whereas none was detected in the clean area. Acid-tolerant bacteria at pH 3.0 were not detected at all in the industrial area as well as in the clean area. Epiphytic bacterial population sizes were generally the greatest in May when leaves are emerged and grew hut the lowest in November when defoliation occurs. These results showed that air pollutant deposition on leaves did not cause a decrease of epiphytic bacteria at least and acid deposition on leaves did cause an increase of acid-tolerant bacteria.

• Research in Plant Disease
• /
• v.22 no.2
• /
• pp.81-93
• /
• 2016

Out of plant-associated bacteria, certain plant growth-promoting bacteria (PGPB) have been reported to increase plant growth and productivity and to elicit induced resistance against plant pathogens. In this study, our objective was to broaden the range of applications of leaf-colonizing PGPB for foliar parts of road tress and pepper. Total 1,056 isolates of endospore-forming bacteria from tree phylloplanes were collected and evaluated for the enzymatic activities including protease, lipase, and chitinase and antifungal capacities against two fungal pathogens, Colletotrichum graminicola and Botrytis cinerea. Fourteen isolates classified as members of the bacilli group displayed the capacity to colonize pepper leaves after spraying inoculation. Three strains, 5B6, 8D4, and 8G12, and the mixtures were employed to evaluate growth promotion, yield increase and defence responses under field condition. Additionally, foliar application of bacterial preparation was applied to the road tress in Yuseong, Daejeon, South Korea, resulted in increase of chlorophyll contents and leaf thickness, compared with non-treated control. The foliar application of microbial preparation reduced brown shot-hole disease of Prunus serrulata L. and advanced leaf abscission in Ginkgo biloba L. Collectively, our results suggest that leaf-colonizing bacteria provide potential microbial agents to increase the performance of woody plants such as tree and pepper through spray application.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
• /
• v.37 no.4
• /
• pp.235-244
• /
• 2004

In this study, we compared the levels of methylotrophic bacterial community diversity in the leaf samples of 19 rice cultivars collected from three regions of Korea. Nineteen pink pigmented isolates showing characteristic growth on methanol were obtained. Physiological and biochemical characters of each isolate were examined according to methods described in Bergey's Manual of Systematic Bacteriology. When phylotypes were defined by performing numerical analysis of 37 characteristics, four distinct clusters were formed. The two reference strains, Methylobacterium extorquens AM1 and Methylobacterium fujisawaense KACC10744 were found to group under cluster IV and cluster III respectively. Cluster I diverged on the basis of nitrate reduction and four isolates showed tolerance upto 0.5 M NaCl concentrations. Two strains in cluster I and III were found to possess methane utilizing properties. Most of the isolates in all the four clusters utilized monosaccharides, disaccharide and polyols as carbon source. When the isolates were subjected for indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) analysis in the presence of L-tryptophan, only 8 isolates exhibited IAA production. In addition, the nitrogen source in the medium was found to influence the IAA production. Addition of $(NH_4)_2SO_4$ in the medium led to a 2 to 30 fold increase in the indole synthesis. However, $KNO_3$, $NH_4NO_3$ and $NH_4Cl$ substitution did not significantly stimulate the synthesis of IAA in the growth medium. Result of gnotobiotic root elongation assay significantly increased roots and shoots lengths, and number of lateral roots, which is mediated by IAA production in the culture medium. The rice seedlings primary roots from seeds treated with methylotrophic isolates were on average 27 to 56% longer than the roots from seeds treated with the uninoculated seeds. In addition, application of different high concentrations of authentic IAA ($400g\;mL^{-1}$) to roots of rice seedlings inhibited root growth. However, the IAA concentration from 10 to $200g\;mL^{-1}$, IAA promoted root growth of rice seedlings. These results suggest that bacterial IAA plays a major role in the development of the host plant root system.