ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Microbe and Virus Interactions with Plants
Phosphorus-Solubilizing and Polymerizing Bacteria Enhance Phosphorus Availability and Growth of Rice
Provisionally accepted
- Jilin Agricultural University, Changchun City, China
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Phosphorus (P) is a limiting nutrient in soil-plant nutrient cycling, functional microorganisms can promote P transformation. While previous studies have mainly focused on either phosphorus solubilization or phosphorus aggregation by bacterial strains, few address both aspects simultaneously. In this study, we screened Acinetobacter johnsonii (NHP4a-2) and Pseudomonas glycinae (NHP4b-2) strains, both of which can effectively solubilize and polymerize P. The phosphorus solubilization capacity of NHP4a-2 is 33% that of NHP4b-2. Under alternating high-and low-phosphorus conditions, the aerobic phosphorus uptake and anaerobic phosphorus release functions of the two bacterial strains. In addition, the polyphosphate kinase (PPK), Exopolyphosphatase (PPX), and Glucose dehydrogenase enzyme (GDH) activities of strain NHP4b-2 were higher than those of strain NHP4a-2. Transcriptome analyses show that NHP4b-2 exhibited significant upregulation of 93 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and downregulation of 264 differentially expressed genesDEGs under phosphate solubilization conditions. ATP metabolism, oxidative phosphorylation, and glycolysis/gluconeogenesis pathways supply ATP and acidic compounds to the strain, thereby supporting its phosphate solubilization function. NHP4b-2 exhibits stronger polyphosphate accumulation capabilities than NHP4a-2. This strain absorbs and stores increasing amounts of phosphorus as phosphorus concentration rises. Under low-phosphorus conditions, it releases phosphorus to support plant growth. Compared with the NHP4a-2 treatment group, the NHP4b-2 treatment group exhibited increases of 6.3%, 26.3%, 13.3%, 25.4%, and 56.9% in rice seedling plant height, root length, fresh leaf weight, fresh root weight, and phosphorus content, respectively, positively impacting the growth of the rice seedlings. We believe that this study provides valuable insights into sustainable phosphorus management in agriculture and may have future applications in various agricultural settings.
Keywords: ·Rice, Transcriptome, Plant Growth, Bacterial phosphate solubilization, phosphoste accumulating bacteria
Received: 09 Sep 2025; Accepted: 21 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Yang, Qin, 岳, 吴, Tian, Wu, Wei and Wu. 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:
Xiaoshuang Wei, weixiaoshuang@jlau.edu.cn
Lei Wu, lwu@jlau.edu.cn
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