title: Moving closer towards restoration of contaminated estuaries: Bioaugmentation with autochthonous rhizobacteria improves metal rhizoaccumulation in native Spartina maritima.
abstract: Spartina maritima is an ecosystem engineer that has shown to be useful for phytoremediation purposes. A glasshouse experiment using soil from a metal-contaminated estuary was designed to investigate the effect of a native bacterial consortium, isolated from S. maritima rizhosphere and selected owing to their plant growth promoting properties and multiresistance to heavy metals, on plant growth and metal accumulation. Plants of S. maritima were randomly assigned to three soil bioaugmentation treatments (without inoculation, one inoculation and repeated inoculations) for 30 days. Growth parameters and photosynthetic traits, together with total concentrations of several metals were determined in roots and/or leaves. Bacterial inoculation improved root growth, through a beneficial effect on photosynthetic rate (AN) due to its positive impact on functionality of PSII and chlorophyll concentration. Also, favoured intrinsic water use efficiency of S. maritima, through the increment in AN, stomatal conductance and in root-to-shoot ratio. Moreover, this consortium was able to stimulate plant metal uptake specifically in roots, with increases of up to 19% for As, 65% for Cu, 40% for Pb and 29% for Zn. Thus, bioaugmentation of S. maritima with the selected bacterial consortium can be claimed to enhance plant adaptation and metal rhizoaccumulation during marsh restoration programs.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Microbiologia, Facultad de Farmacia, Universidad de Sevilla, C/ Profesor García González 2, 41012 Sevilla, Spain.
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mesa
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Microbiologia, Facultad de Farmacia, Universidad de Sevilla, C/ Profesor García González 2, 41012 Sevilla, Spain.
authors.forename: Ignacio David
authors.initials: ID
authors.lastname: Rodríguez-Llorente
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Microbiologia, Facultad de Farmacia, Universidad de Sevilla, C/ Profesor García González 2, 41012 Sevilla, Spain.
authors.forename: Eloisa
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Pajuelo
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Biología Vegetal y Ecología, Facultad de Biología, Universidad de Sevilla, 1095, 41080 Sevilla, Spain.
authors.forename: José María Barcia
authors.initials: JMB
authors.lastname: Piedras
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Microbiologia, Facultad de Farmacia, Universidad de Sevilla, C/ Profesor García González 2, 41012 Sevilla, Spain.
authors.forename: Miguel Angel
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Caviedes
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Biología Vegetal y Ecología, Facultad de Biología, Universidad de Sevilla, 1095, 41080 Sevilla, Spain.
authors.forename: Susana
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Redondo-Gómez
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Biología Vegetal y Ecología, Facultad de Biología, Universidad de Sevilla, 1095, 41080 Sevilla, Spain. Electronic address: emana@us.es.
authors.forename: Enrique
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Mateos-Naranjo
mesh_terms: D001151:Arsenic / Q000378:metabolism*; D001407:Bacillus / Q000378:metabolism*; D001673:Biodegradation, Environmental; D002734:Chlorophyll / Q000378:metabolism; D000077194:Chlorophyll A; D063366:Estuaries; D019216:Metals, Heavy / Q000378:metabolism*; D018515:Plant Leaves / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism; D018517:Plant Roots / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism; D006109:Poaceae / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism*; D058441:Rhizosphere; D012989:Soil Pollutants / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D019216:Metals, Heavy; D012989:Soil Pollutants; D002734:Chlorophyll; C037184:chlorophyll b; D001151:Arsenic; D000077194:Chlorophyll A
keywords: Metal pollution; Photosynthesis; Phytorremediation; Plant growth promoting rhizobacteria; Spartina maritima; Stomatal conductance