title: Azospirillum brasilense does not affect population structure of specific rhizobacterial communities of inoculated maize (Zea mays).
abstract: Positive response of plant species to plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria have led to an increased interest in their use as bacterial inoculants. However, the introduction of exogenous bacteria into natural ecosystems may perturb bacterial populations within the microbial community and lead to the disruption of indigenous populations performing key functional roles. In this study the effect of Azospirillum brasilense inoculation on maize (Zea mays) rhizosphere Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes, alpha-Proteobacteria, Pseudomonas and Bdellovibrio spp. was assessed using a polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) approach in conjunction with group-specific primers. The DGGE fingerprints analysis revealed that the introduction of A. brasilense did not alter or disrupt the microbial system at the group-specific level. However, some communities such as the alpha-Proteobacteria and Bdellovibrio were influenced by plant age while the other bacterial groups remained unaffected. Based on these as well as previous data, it can be inferred that inoculation with A. brasilense does not perturb the natural bacterial populations investigated.
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Pathology and Microbiology, and The Otto Warburg Minerva Center for Agricultural Biotechnology, Faculty of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Quality Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Rehovot 76100, Israel.
authors.forename: Yoav
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Herschkovitz
authors.forename: Anat
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lerner
authors.forename: Yaacov
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Davidov
authors.forename: Yaacov
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Okon
authors.forename: Edouard
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Jurkevitch
mesh_terms: D015806:Azospirillum brasilense / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development*; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D016172:DNA Fingerprinting; D017931:DNA Primers; D017753:Ecosystem; D004586:Electrophoresis; D018517:Plant Roots / Q000382:microbiology*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012988:Soil Microbiology; D003313:Zea mays / Q000382:microbiology*
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers