Burkholderia pyrrocinia strain JK-SH007 affects zinc (Zn) accumulation and translocation in tomato

ABSTRACT

Zinc (Zn) contamination in soil has been a serious problem world widely. Plant growth-promoting bacterium (PGPB) could have potential applications in Zn bioremediation. In this study, Burkholderia pyrrocinia strain JK-SH007 had a high tolerance to Zn and was able to produce indole acetic acid and siderophore, to solubilize inorganic phosphate. And it was found to promote tomato growth and tolerate to high concentration of Zn. We employed a novel combination of transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and scanning electron microscopy with electron dispersive X-ray analysis (SEM-EDX) for understanding the mechanism of Zn toxicity on plant tip morphology, ultrastructure and bacterium protection tomato cell. The high Zn soil supplement was highly toxic to the plants, biomass decreased, root growth inhibited, shoots rotted and chlorisis induced. ‘JK-SH007ʹ improved the relative tolerance of tomato to Zn, enhanced Zn sequestration, alleviated the associated plant damage relative to PGPB-free controls. ‘JK-SH007ʹ may be used to assist metal-hyperaccumulating plants in bioremediation.

KEYWORDS:

• Bioremediation
• heavy-metal stress
• inoculation
• plant growth promotion
• tolerance

Acknowledgements

The authors are very grateful to Jing Yang, Associate Professor, center of forecasting and analysis, Nanjing Forestry University, for her assistance with the SEM, SEM/EDX and TEM analysis.

The authors are very grateful to Pro. Zou Zhen, Chinese Academy of Sciences, for reviewing the manuscript.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work is supported by China State Forestry Administration Special Research Program for Forestry Sectors Beneficial to Public [No. 201304404], National Science Foundation of China [No. 31270684], Huzhou natural science foundation [No. 2019YZ03], the Zhejiang Key R&D Program of China [2019C02030] and the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions (PAPD).