Quantificação de bactérias endofíticas em plantas de sisal utilizando PCR em tempo real

Abstract

Endophytic bacteria live inside plants without causing visible symptoms. The use of these organisms has great potential in agriculture because of their effect on plant growth promotion, induction of disease resistance, nitrogen fixation, and biological control of plant pathogens. The quantification of culturable and non-culturable endophytic bacteria in aerial tissues of five healthy sisal plants was performed. This study is a first step towards the use of endophytic bacteria for the biological control of the disease known as red rot caused by Aspergillus niger. The analysis was performed by absolute quantification using the SYBR Green methodology. All plant parts showed endophytic bacteria. The smaller amounts of bacterial DNA were found in stems, whereas the higher amounts were always found in bulbils and leaves. Sisal inflorescences had similar amounts of bacterial DNA and these concentrations were lower than the amounts observed in leaves and bulbils. This study represents a contribution to the knowledge of the total populations of endophytic bacteria in sisal plants.