Identification of Cellulolytic Bacteria from Guts of Microcerotermes diversus Silvestri (Isoptera: Termitidae) in Southern Iran.

Termites are a large and important group of insects in terrestrial ecosystems that decompose lignocelluloses. Among these, Microcerotermes diversus Silvestri (Termitidae) is a destructive invasive pest in many tropical and subtropical regions. In the present study, M. diversus specimens were collected from traps in Ahvaz, Bandar Abbas, Kish, and Khark Islands. Sample suspensions were prepared in 5-ml DH2O and cultured on nutrient agar (NA) medium. All 47 representative bacterial isolates were evaluated for cellulolytic activity by growing them on cellulose Congo-red agar medium. Based on some key phenotypic characteristics, the isolates were tentatively identified at the genus level. These were confirmed by 16S rRNA analysis using a universal primer pair (P1/P6). Sequence alignments revealed that most of the isolates are novel species so far found in the termite guts. Results showed that some of the isolates are common for all surveyed areas. However, there were significant differences in their numbers and degree of cellulolytic activity. The species reported here for the first time for termites of Iran are Bacillus wiedmanii, B. paramycoides, Elizabethkingia anophelis, Lysinibacillus pakestanensis, Pseudomonas hibiscicola, Actinetobacter pitti, A. venetianus, and Ochrobactrum anthropi.

Diversity of Endophytic and Epiphytic Bacteria From Sugarcane in Khuzestan, Iran

Abstract Diverse microorganisms are living as endophytes in plant tissues and as epiphytes on plant surfaces in nature. Commercial formulations of bacteria antagonist to plant pathogenic microbes and ice nucleation active bacteria have been utilized as an environmentally safe method to manage plant disease and to prevent frost damage respectively. Bacteria were isolated from the leaf and sheath of sugarcane (CP69-1026 CP57-614, CP48-103, CP73-21, and CP70-1143 cultivars) verities grown in the field in Khuzestan province, Iran. Bacteria were found in both sheaths and leaves of sugarcane plants which they were significantly higher in density in leaves and which most were endophytic. The bacterial strains were 10 groups on the basis of the biochemical characteristic, which their 16S rRNA encoding gene from representatives were amplified and subjected to sequencing. Results of sequences analyze using blast software from the NCBI website and phylogenetic analysis showed that the representative strains belonged to a wide variety of phylogenetic groups. These results indicated that they were closely related to Burkholderia and Ralstonia from β-Proteobacteria, Mesorhizobium, Ochrobactrum, Sphingomonas from α-Proteobacteria, Microbacterium, Curtobacterium and Leifsonia from Actinobacteria and Xanthomonas from γ-Proteobacteria. This is the first report of the presence of endophytic and epiphytic bacteria from sugarcane in Khuzestan, Iran.