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Arsenic (As)-Resistant Endophytic Bacteria Isolated from Ferns Growing in As-Contaminated Areas

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Abstract

In this study, As-resistant endophytic bacteria (AEB) from four different ferns (i.e., Pteris vittata, Pityrogramma calomelanos, Blenchum orientale, and Nephrolepis exaltata) collected from the polymetallic mine (Nui Phao) in Vietnam were isolated and characterized. The sampling locations were contaminated with As concentration within the range of 316–1606 mg kg–1. A total of 5 arsenite(III)- and 26 arsenate(V)-resistant endophytic bacterial strains that belonged to 13 different genera were obtained. The most predominant isolate (accounting for 36% of the total isolated AEB in root ferns) was identified as Bacillus sp. The isolates were more resistant to As(V) than to As(III). Among As(V)-resistant strains, 26 were resistant to As(V) at concentrations of 80–320 mM, whereas 5 As(III)-resistant strains were able to tolerate As(III) of up to 160 mM. Although all the isolates had the ability to produce indole acetic acid (IAA), only three strains (i.e., Sporosarcina luteola R3.3.1, Paenibacillus sp. R3.8.3, and Acinetobacter sp. L2.5.1) had the phosphate-solubilizing ability. The pot experiments using P. vittata and inoculation of the four selected AEB (i.e., Priestia megaterium R2.5.2, Micrococcus luteus S3.4.1, P. megaterium R3.4.5, and P. megaterium L3.5.1) confirmed the important role of AEB in plant growth promotion and phytoremediation potential of As-contaminated soils.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Environmental Sciences, University of Science, Vietnam National University, Thanh Xuan, Hanoi, Viet Nam

    T. B. K. Nguyen & P. M. Nguyen

  2. Institute of Biotechnology, Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, Cau Giay, Hanoi, Vietnam

    T. H. T. Phan, T. T. Le, N. T. Dang, V. T. Nguyen & L. H. T. Nguyen

  3. Graduate University of Sciences and Technology, Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, Cau Giay, Hanoi, Vietnam

    T. H. T. Phan

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Contributions

The first two authors contributed to the work equally. All authors contributed to the study conception and design. TBKN: conceptualization, methodology, formal analysis, investigation, writing—review and editing, funding acquisition. THTP: conceptualization, methodology, formal analysis, investigation, writing—review and editing. TTL, NTD, VTN and LHTN: conceptualization, formal analysis, investigation, writing—original draft. PMN: conceptualization, methodology, formal analysis, investigation, writing—review and editing. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to P. M. Nguyen.

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The authors declare that they have no competing interests. This article does not contain any studies involving animals or human participants performed by any of the authors.

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Nguyen, T.B., Phan, T.H., Le, T.T. et al. Arsenic (As)-Resistant Endophytic Bacteria Isolated from Ferns Growing in As-Contaminated Areas. Microbiology 92, 892–906 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1134/S002626172260330X

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