Journal
ENVIRONMENTAL AND EXPERIMENTAL BOTANY
Volume 66, Issue 3, Pages 402-408Publisher
PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.envexpbot.2009.04.007
Keywords
Bacillus; Cactus; Cardon; Desert; Rock degradation; Nitrogen fixation; Pachycereus; Phosphate solubilization; Rock weathering; Soil formation
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Funding
- Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnologia of Mexico (CONACYT) [50052-Z]
- Pacific Northwest Research Station of the USDA Forest Service in Corvallis, Oregon, USA
- Bashan Foundation in Oregon, USA
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A plant-bacterium association between the giant cardon cactus Pachycereus pringlei and endophytic bacteria help seedlings establish and grow on barren rock. This cactus, together with other desert plants, is responsible for weathering ancient lava flows in the Baja California Peninsula of Mexico. When cardon seeds are inoculated with endophytic bacteria, the seedlings grow in pulverized rock for at least a year without fertilization and without showing distress. The bacteria-plant association released significant amounts of necessary nutrients from the substrate. When endophytic bacteria were eliminated from the seeds by antibiotics, development of seedlings stopped. In complementary experiments of sterile seeds inoculated with the same endophytic bacteria, plant growth was restored. This study and the previous one show that. under extreme environmental conditions, a symbiotic relationship is present between endophytic bacteria and their cactus host. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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