Presenter: Jacob Davis, College of agriculture and applied science, Plant, climate and soil sciences
Authors: Jacob Davis, Jyosthna Genesh, Amita Kaundal
Faculty Advisor: Amita Kaundal, Agriculture and applied science, Plants, Soil and Climate science
Institution: Utah State University
The recent rise in the average global temperature has been a driving force over the past few years for rising soil salinity. This situation presents a hostile environment to many plant species that have not been exposed to these conditions previously. The rhizosphere, which is a layer of soil attached to the roots of a plant, contains microorganisms that promote the plant’s growth and development. These microorganisms are known as Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobacteria (PGPR). These can also play a key role in contributing to plant stress resistance. Some native plants have shown a strong ability to resist harsh or assimilate to abiotic and biotic stresses such as drought, cold temperatures, heavy metal contaminations, salinity, and more. In this study, we are investigating a native resilient plant indigenous to the Intermountain West region of North America Ceanothus velutinus, which is also known as (Snowbrush). We aim to isolate halotolerant bacteria from the rhizosphere of Snowbrush. The root samples are collected from the Snowbrush plants in the Tony Grove region of Logan, Utah. The rhizosphere soil samples were separated from the roots and diluted in a 10:95 ratio and then serially diluted five times in a 1:10 ratio. The last three dilutions then plated onto nutrient agar media with six different concentrations of sodium chloride (2%, 4%, 6%, 8%, 10% W/V) with 0% as a control. The experiment is in progress, and the colonies isolated will be identified using Gram staining, morphological description, biochemical assays, and 16s rRNA sequencing then followed by BLAST (basic local alignment search tool) search against 16s rRNA database at NCBI (https://blast.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Blast.cgi?PROGRAM=blastn&PAGE_TYPE=BlastSearch&LINK_LOC=blasthome). Once we identify the halotolerant bacteria, we will test them on the Model plants/crops in the growth chambers and the greenhouse conditions on salt stress to confirm their role in salt tolerance.