title: Optimization of isolation and cultivation of bacterial endophytes through addition of plant extract to nutrient media.
abstract: Many endophytes have beneficial effects on plants and can be exploited in biotechnological applications. Studies hypothesize that only 0.001-1% of all plant-associated bacteria are cultivable. Moreover, even after successful isolations, many endophytic bacteria often show reduced regrowth capacity. This research aimed to optimize isolation processes and culturing these bacteria afterwards. We compared several minimal and complex media in a screening. Beside the media themselves, two gelling agents and adding plant extract to media were investigated to enhance the number and diversity of endophytes as well as the growth capacity when regrown after isolation. In this work, 869 medium delivered the highest numbers of cultivable bacteria, as well as the highest diversity. When comparing gelling agents, no differences were observed in the numbers of bacteria. Adding plant extract to the media lead to a slight increase in diversity. However, when adding plant extract to improve the regrowth capacity, sharp increases of viable bacteria occurred in both rich and minimal media.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Environmental Sciences, Hasselt University, Agoralaan Building D, Diepenbeek, 3590, Belgium.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Eevers
authors.affiliation: Centre for Environmental Sciences, Hasselt University, Agoralaan Building D, Diepenbeek, 3590, Belgium.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gielen
authors.affiliation: Centre for Environmental Sciences, Hasselt University, Agoralaan Building D, Diepenbeek, 3590, Belgium.|Edafología, Soil and Environmental Chemistry Lab, Colegio de Postgraduados, km 36.5 Carretera Mexico-Texcoco, Estado de Mexico, 56230, Mexico.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sánchez-López
authors.affiliation: Interuniversity Institute for Biostatistics and Statistical Bioinformatics, Hasselt University, Agoralaan Building D, Diepenbeek, 3590, Belgium.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jaspers
authors.affiliation: Department of Analytical Chemistry, Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, 123 Huntington Street, New Haven, CT, 06511, USA.
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: White
authors.affiliation: Centre for Environmental Sciences, Hasselt University, Agoralaan Building D, Diepenbeek, 3590, Belgium.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Vangronsveld
authors.affiliation: Centre for Environmental Sciences, Hasselt University, Agoralaan Building D, Diepenbeek, 3590, Belgium.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Weyens
mesh_terms: D001419:Bacteria / Q000254:growth & development / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000378:metabolism; D001431:Bacteriological Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D003470:Culture Media / Q000737:chemistry*; D060026:Endophytes / Q000254:growth & development / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006801:Humans; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000378:metabolism*; D010944:Plants / Q000382:microbiology*
chemical_list: D003470:Culture Media; D010936:Plant Extracts