Isolation and genetic characterization of endophytic and rhizospheric microorganisms from Butia purpurascens Glassman

Interactions between plants and microorganism are complex and can affect the establishment of plant communities and change ecosystem properties. These interactions are of interest for researchers and have many ecological and biotechnological applications. The present study is the first report on the microbial diversity associated with Butia purpurascens Glassman, and the goal was to isolate and identify the genetic diversity of endophytic and rhizospheric growable microorganisms from B. purpurascens using molecular biology techniques. Endophytic and rhizospheric microorganisms were isolated from the roots and rhizospheric soil of the purple yatay palm. DNA was extracted, and the 16S region for bacteria and internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region for fungi were amplified and sequenced. The resulting sequences were compared with known sequences from GenBank by similarity search using BLASTn. The rhizosphere and roots of B. purpurascens harbor a diverse set of microorganism groups. Fourteen (14) genera of endophytic and 12 genera of rhizospheric bacteria were identified that belonged to three phyla (Proteobacteria, Firmicutes and Actinobacteria), and 11 endophytic and six rhizospheric genera of fungi were identified that belonged to the phylum Ascomycota. The most frequent isolated genera were Enterobacter and Pseudomonas for endophytic bacteria, Gibberella and Codinaeopsis for endophytic fungi, Bacillus and Enterobacter for rhizospheric bacteria, and Ceratocystis for rhizospheric fungi. Differences were observed between the endophytic and rhizospheric microbial communities of B. purpurascens, with some microorganisms only detected in one environment. Further studies with a higher number of individuals are required to confirm these results.