The endosphere of the salt marsh plant Halimione portulacoides is a diversity hotspot for the genus Salinicola: description of five novel species Salinicola halimionae sp. nov., Salinicola aestuarinus sp. nov., Salinicola endophyticus sp. nov., Salinicola halophyticus sp. nov. and Salinicola lusitanus sp. nov

Minerals solubilizing and mobilizing microbiomes: A sustainable approaches for managing minerals deficiency in agricultural soil

Agriculture faces challenges to fulfill the rising food demand due to shortage of arable land and various environmental stressors. Traditional farming technologies help in fulfilling food demand but they are harmful to humans and environmental sustainability. The food production along with agro-environmental sustainability could be achieved by encouraging farmers to use agro-environmental sustainable products such as biofertilizers and biopesticides consisting of live microbes or plant extract instead of chemical-based inputs. The ecofriendly formulations play a significant role in plant growth promotion, crop yield, and repairing degraded soil texture and fertility sustainably. Mineral solubilizing microbes that provide vital nutrients like phosphorus, potassium, zinc, and selenium are essential for plant growth and development and could be developed as biofertilizers. These microbes could be plant-associated (rhizospheric, endophytic, and phyllospheric) or inhabits the bulk soil, and diverse extreme habitats. Mineral solubilizing microbes from soil, extreme environments, surface and internal parts of the plant belong to diverse phyla such as Ascomycota, Actinobacteria, Basidiomycota, Bacteroidetes, Chlorobi, Cyanobacteria, Chlorophyta, Euryarchaeota, Firmicutes, Gemmatimonadetes, Mucoromycota, Proteobacteria, and Tenericutes. Mineral solubilizing microbes (MSMs) directly or indirectly stimulate plant growth and development either by releasing plant growth regulators; solubilizing phosphorus, potassium, zinc, selenium, and silicon; biological nitrogen fixation; and production of siderophores, ammonia, hydrogen cyanide, hydrolytic enzymes, and bioactive compound/secondary metabolites. Biofertilizer developed using mineral solubilizing microbes is an eco-friendly solution to the sustainable food production system in many countries worldwide. The present review deals with the biodiversity of mineral solubilizing microbes, and potential roles in crop improvement and soil well-being for agricultural sustainability.

Phytohalomonas tamaricis gen. nov., sp. nov., an endophytic bacterium isolated from Tamarix ramosissima roots growing in Kumtag desert

A gram-stain-negative, aerobic, non-spore-forming, rod-shaped, non-motile bacterium strain R4HLG17^T was isolated from Tamarix ramosissima roots growing in Kumtag desert. The strain grew at salinities of 0-16% (w/v) NaCl (optimum 5-6%), pH 5-9 (optimum 7) and at 16-45 °C. Based on 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity, strain R4HLG17^T belonged to the family Halomonadaceae and was most closely related to Halomonas lutea DSM 23508^T(95.1%), followed by Halotalea alkalilenta AW-7^T(94.8%), Salinicola acroporae S4-41^T(94.8%), Salinicola halophilus CG4.1^T(94.6%), and Larsenimonas salina M1-18^T(94.4%). Multilocus sequence analysis (MLSA) based on the partial sequences of 16S rRNA, atpA, gyrB, rpoD, and secA genes indicated that the strain R4HLG17^T formed an independent and monophyletic branch related to other genera of Halomonadaceae, supporting its placement as a new genus in this family. The draft genome of strain R4HLG17^T was 3.6 Mb with a total G + C content of 55.1%. The average nucleotide identity to Halomonas lutea DSM 23508^T was 83.5%. Q-9 was detected as the major respiratory quinone and summed feature 8 (C_18:1ω7c/C_18:1ω6c), summed feature 3 (C_16:1ω7c/C_16:1ω6c), and C_16:0 as predominant cellular fatty acids. On the basis of chemotaxonomic, phylogenetic, and phenotypic evidence, strain R4HLG17^T is concluded to represent a novel species of a new genus within Halomonadaceae, for which the name Phytohalomonas tamaricis gen. nov., sp. nov., is proposed. The type strain is R4HLG17^T (=ACCC 19929^T=KCTC 52415^T).