Characterization of mineral phosphate solubilization traits from a barley rhizosphere soil functional metagenome. Issue 5 (25th July 2013)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Chhabra, Sagar; Brazil, Dina; Morrissey, John; Burke, James I.; O'Gara, Fergal; N. Dowling, David
• Is Part Of: MicrobiologyOpen. Volume 2:Issue 5(2013:Oct.)
• Page Start: 717
• Page End: 724
• Publication Date: 2013-07-25
• Subjects: Microbiology -- Periodicals; 579
• DOI: 10.1002/mbo3.110
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2045-8827

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main" id="mbo3110-abs-0001"> <title>Abstract</title> <p>Mineral phosphate solubilization (MPS) microorganisms are important for their provision of orthophosphate anions for plant growth promotion activity in soil. In this study, we applied a functional metagenomic approach to identify this trait directly from the microbiome in barley rhizosphere soil that had not received P fertilizer over a 15‐year period. A fosmid system was used to clone the metagenome of which 18, 000 clones (~666 Mb of DNA) was screened for MPS. Functional assays and High Performance Liquid Chromatography analysis recognized gluconic acid production and MPS activity in the range 24.8–77.1 mmol/L and 27.6–38.16 μg/mL, respectively, when screened in an <italic>Escherichia coli</italic> host (at frequency of one MPS‐positive clone hit per 114 Mb DNA tested). The MPS clones (with average insert size of ~37 kb) were analysed by 454 Roche sequencing and annotated. A number of genes/operons with homology to Phosphorous (P) uptake, regulatory and solubilization mechanisms were identified, linking the MPS function to the uncultivated microbiome present in barley rhizosphere soil.</p> </abstract>