Biodiversity in Bacterial Phyla Composite in Arid Soils of the Community of Desert Medicinal Plant Rhazya stricta
Samah O. Noor *
Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Sciences, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Dhafer A. Al- Zahrani
Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Sciences, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Refaei M. Hussein
Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Sciences and Arts, Al Kamel Province, University of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. and Department Genetics and Cytology, Genetic Engineering Division, National Resesrch Center, Dokki, Cairo, Egypt.
Rewaa S. Jalal
Department of Biology, College of Sciences, University of Jeddah, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Aala A. Abulfaraj
Department of Biological Sciences, College of Sciences and Arts-Rabigh Campus, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia.
Mazen A. Majeed
Department of Biology, College of Sciences, University of Jeddah, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Mohammed N. Baeshen
Department of Biology, College of Sciences, University of Jeddah, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Ahmed M. Al- Hejin
Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Sciences, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Nabih A. Baeshen
Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Sciences, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
John P. Huelsenbeck
Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, USA.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Rhazya stricta is an important medicinal plant used as native herbal drug to cure various diseases across Asia. Plant-microbe interactions represented by different environment abiotic stress factors that shows effects also on the host plants or on the associated microbial communities. Soil microorganism can be adapted to specific stress conditions and evolve tolerance to this stress. The adjustment of the plant microbiome can productively improve the yield production of essential crops. In the present study, metagenomics analysis of bacterial communities associated with five desert plants (Rhazya stricta, Enneapogon desvauxii, Citrullus colocynthis, Senna italica, and Zygophyllum simplex) was used to highlights the bacterial diversity in the communities of these desert plants, as they also have an importance as folkloric medicinal plants, in addition to their important roles in the ecological and agricultural applications. The results of the bacterial community’s taxonomy showed eleven phyla in each sample, and the most abundant were highlighted for further analysis as it was unassigned phyla. Results indicated that the most commonlyknownphylawere; Actinobacteria, Proteobacteria, Chloroflexi, Firmicutes, Acidobacteria, Gemmatimonadetes, and Bacteroidetes. Further bioinformatics and functional analysis of bacteria are needed to investigate their effectiveness in promoting plant growth and understanding symbiotic relationships under drought-stress conditions, meanwhile, introducing the pinpointed ones in this study will help in achieving this task.
Keywords: Drought stress, Rhazya stricta, Enneapogon desvauxii, Citrullus colocynthis, Senna italic, Zygophyllum simplex, metagenomics, plant growth-promoting bacteria (PGPB), environmental stress; desert plants.