Identification of Endophytic Bacteria in Panax ginseng Seeds and Their Potential for Plant Growth Promotion

Abstract

Endophytes are microorganisms that live in the internal tissues of plants without harming the host plants. Inthis symbiotic relationship, the host plants provide nutrients and shelter to the endophytes, in turn, endophytes can promotethe growth of host plants and act as a biological control agents against plant pathogens. Plant-microbe interactions like thisare noted for natural methods for sustainable agriculture and environmental conservation. However, in spite of the infinitepotential, there are only a few reports on the endophytes present in ginseng. In this study, we isolated and identified theendophytes from Panax ginseng seeds and evaluated the biological activities (IAA production ability, nitrogen fixationability, phosphate solubilization capacity, siderophore production ability, and antifungal activities) of the endophyte isolates. Eight different endophytes were identified by 16S rRNA sequencing. Most of the endophytes have antibiotic and plantgrowth promoting (PGP) activities. Particularly, PgSEB5-37E have the highest antibiotic activity, both PgSEB5-37B andPgSEB5-37H have high PGP traits such as an abilities to produce IAA, solubilize phosphate and fix nitrogen. These resultsindicated that the endophytes from P. ginseng seeds may have applicable value to many industries. In order to usethe isolated endophytes, quantitative analysis and field tests are needed to be performed.