Siderophore-producing rhizobacteria reduce heavy metal-induced oxidative stress in Meyer.

Background: is one of the most important medicinal plants and is usually harvested after 5 to 6 years of cultivation in Korea. Heavy metal (HM) exposure is a type of abiotic stress that can induce oxidative stress and decrease the quality of the ginseng crop. Siderophore-producing rhizobacteria (SPR) may be capable of bioremediating HM contamination.

Methods: Several isolates from ginseng rhizosphere were evaluated by screening of their plant growth-promoting traits and HM resistance. Subsequently, (pot tests) and (medium tests) were designed to investigate the SPR ability to reduce oxidative stress and enhance HM resistance in inoculated with the SPR candidate.

Results: tests revealed that the siderophore-producing DCY119 had higher HM resistance than the other tested isolates and was selected as the SPR candidate. In the experiments, 2-year-old ginseng seedlings exposed to 25 mL (500 mM) Fe solution had lower biomass and higher reactive oxygen species level than control seedlings. In contrast, seedlings treated with 10 CFU/mL DCY119 for 10 minutes had higher biomass and higher levels of antioxidant genes and nonenzymatic antioxidant chemicals than untreated seedlings. When Fe concentration in the medium was increased, DCY119 can produce siderophores and scavenge reactive oxygen species to reduce Fe toxicity in addition to providing indole-3-acetic acid to promote seedling growth, thereby conferring inoculated ginseng with HM resistance.

Conclusions: It was confirmed that SPR DCY119 can potentially be used for bioremediation of HM contamination.