Genomic Analysis of Endophytic Bacillus cereus T4S and Its Plant Growth-Promoting Traits

Abstract

Insights into plant endophytic microbes and their exploration in agriculture have provided opportunities for sustainable plant health and food safety. Notable endophytic <i>Bacillus</i> species with plant growth-promoting traits have been documented; nevertheless, information on genome analysis of <i>B. cereus</i> associated with the sunflower in South Africa has not been studied. Therefore, we present whole-genome sequence of agriculturally important <i>B. cereus</i> strain T4S isolated from sunflower plants. The NextSeq Illumina sequencing yielded 7,255,762 bp sequence reads, 151 bp average read length, 5,945,881 bp genome size, 56 tRNA, 63 rRNA, and G + C content of 34.8%. The phylogeny analysis of strain T4S was similar to <i>B. cereus</i> NJ-W. Secondary metabolites, such as petrobactin, bacillibactin, bacitracin, molybdenum factor, zwittermicin, and fengycin underlining bacterial biocontrol efficacy against phytopathogens were found in the T4S genome. The predicted novel genes in the bacterial genome mediating the complex metabolic pathways can provide a genetic basis in understanding endosphere biology and their multiple functions thereof in crop improvement. Interestingly, seed and root inoculation with strain T4S contributed to sunflower yield under greenhouse experiments. Hence, the detection of notable genes specific for plant growth promotion as validated under in vitro screening, promisingly, suggests the relevance of strain T4S in agricultural biotechnology.