ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Microbe and Virus Interactions with Plants
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2025.1699093
This article is part of the Research TopicAdvancing Microbial Consortia for Sustainable Disease Management and Plant Growth PromotionView all articles
Agroecology-based assembly and function of endophytic bacteria in seeds of Triticum aestivum
Provisionally accepted- 1ICAR - Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, India
- 2Central Potato Research Institute (ICAR), Shimla, India
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The seed, a vital plant organ for its continuation, contains microbial endophytes that develop as part of the early plant microbiome and assist growing seedlings in various ways. In this study, bacterial endophytes from seeds of wheat cultivars grown under different agro-ecological conditions were genotypically and functionally analysed. Despite environmental differences and cultivars adapted to distinct agroclimatic zones, the endophytic bacterial count ranged from 2.79 to 5.19 Log CFU/g. The dominant seed bacteria belonged to the phylum Firmicutes, with diverse members of the genus Bacillus. There were core and niche-specific bacteria among the different agroclimatic zones. The seed endophytic bacteria exhibited hydrolytic enzyme activities, mainly amylase, cellulase, and xylanase. The nitrogen fixation capacity ranged from 0.81 to 32.06 nmol ethylene h-1 mg-1 protein, while phosphate solubilisation ranged from 147 to 440 µg mL-1. Some seed endophytes from the North Western Plains Zone (NWPZ) showed strong antagonism towards Fusarium graminearum (52%), Bipolaris sorokiniana (35.9%), and Tilletia indica (43.4%). The green fluorescent protein (GFP)-tagged endophytic bacteria, when reintroduced to wheat seeds, were observed to colonise and migrate within germinating seedlings,Confirm their potential for internal establishment and movement within the host. These seed endophytic bacteria may offer notable benefits by colonising root tissues during germination, thereby enhancing plant growth and yield.
Keywords: Seed endophytes, plant growth promotion, Antagonism, Bacterial colonization, GfpTracking
Received: 04 Sep 2025; Accepted: 01 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Prasad, Suman, Kumar, Sharma, Ramakrishnan and Krishnan. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Dharmendra Kumar, dharmendra851@gmail.com
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