Epiphytic bacteria are
bacteria
Bacteria (; singular: bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one biological cell. They constitute a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria were among ...
which live non-parasitically on the surface of a plant on various organs such as the leaves, roots, flowers, buds, seeds and fruit. In current studies it has been determined that epiphytic bacteria generally don't harm the plant, but promote the formation of ice crystals. Some produce an auxin hormone which promotes plant growth and plays a role in the life cycle of the bacteria.
Different bacteria prefer different plants and different plant organs depending on the organ's nutritional content, and depending on the bacteria's colonization system which is controlled by the host plant. Bacteria which live on leaves are referred to as
phyllobacteria, and bacteria which live on the root system are referred to as
rhizabacteria. They adhere to the plant surface forms as 1-cluster 2- individual bacterial cell 3- biofilm . The age of the organ also affects the epiphytic bacteria population and characteristics and has a role in the inhibition of
phytopathogen
Plant pathology (also phytopathology) is the scientific study of diseases in plants caused by pathogens (infectious organisms) and environmental conditions (physiological factors). Organisms that cause infectious disease include fungi, oomyc ...
on plant. Epiphytic bacteria found in the marine environment have a role in the
nitrogen cycle
The nitrogen cycle is the biogeochemical cycle by which nitrogen is converted into multiple chemical forms as it circulates among atmospheric, terrestrial, and marine ecosystems. The conversion of nitrogen can be carried out through both biologi ...
.
Species
There are diverse species of epiphytic bacteria. An incomplete list:
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Citrobacter youngae
Citrobacter youngae is a Gram-negative species of bacteria
Bacteria (; singular: bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one biological cell. They constitute a large domain of prokaryotic microorgan ...
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Bacillus thuringiensis
''Bacillus thuringiensis'' (or Bt) is a gram-positive, soil-dwelling bacterium, the most commonly used biological pesticide worldwide. ''B. thuringiensis'' also occurs naturally in the gut of caterpillars of various types of moths and butterflie ...
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Enterobacter soli
''Enterobacter'' is a genus of common Gram-negative, facultatively anaerobic, rod-shaped, non-spore-forming bacteria of the family Enterobacteriaceae. It is the type genus of the order Enterobacterales. Several strains of these bacteria are p ...
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Bacillus tequilensis''
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Bacillus aryabhattai
''Bacillus'' (Latin "stick") is a genus of Gram-positive, rod-shaped bacteria, a member of the phylum ''Bacillota'', with 266 named species. The term is also used to describe the shape (rod) of other so-shaped bacteria; and the plural ''Bacilli ...
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Pantoea eucalypti''
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Pseudomonas palleroniana
''Pseudomonas palleroniana'' is a Gram-negative bacterium that infects rice (''Oryza sativa
''Oryza sativa'', commonly known as Asian rice or indica rice, is the plant species most commonly referred to in English as ''rice''. It is the type ...
''
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Serratia nematodiphila
''Serratia'' is a genus of Gram-negative, Facultative anaerobic organism, facultatively anaerobic, Bacillus, rod-shaped bacteria of the family Yersiniaceae. According to the List of Prokaryotic names with Standing Nomenclature (LPSN), there are cu ...
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Stenotrophomonas maltophilia
''Stenotrophomonas maltophilia'' is an aerobic, nonfermentative, Gram-negative bacterium. It is an uncommon bacterium and human infection is difficult to treat. Initially classified as ''Bacterium bookeri'', then renamed ''Pseudomonas maltophil ...
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Pseudomonas mosselii''
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Pseudomonas putida
''Pseudomonas putida'' is a Gram-negative, rod-shaped, saprotrophic soil bacterium.
Based on 16S rRNA analysis, ''P. putida'' was taxonomically confirmed to be a ''Pseudomonas'' species (''sensu stricto'') and placed, along with several other ...
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Lysinibacillus xylanilyticus
''Lysinibacillus xylanilyticus'' is a Gram-positive, aerobic, xylan-degrading, endospore-forming and motile bacterium from the genus of '' Lysinibacillus'' which has been isolated from forest humus from the Gyeryong Mountain
Gyeryongsan, a ...
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Enterobacter asburiae
''Enterobacter'' is a genus of common Gram-negative, facultatively anaerobic, rod-shaped, non-spore-forming bacteria of the family Enterobacteriaceae. It is the type genus of the order Enterobacterales. Several strains of these bacteria are pat ...
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Acinetobacter johnsonii''
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Pseudomonas macerans''
Classification
Many epiphytic bacteria are rod-shaped, and classified as either gram negative or gram positive, pigmented or non-pigmented, fermentative or non-fermentative .
Non-pigmented epiphytic bacteria have high a GC content in their
genome
In the fields of molecular biology and genetics, a genome is all the genetic information of an organism. It consists of nucleotide sequences of DNA (or RNA in RNA viruses). The nuclear genome includes protein-coding genes and non-coding ge ...
, a characteristic which protects the bacteria from the
ultraviolet
Ultraviolet (UV) is a form of electromagnetic radiation with wavelength from 10 nanometer, nm (with a corresponding frequency around 30 Hertz, PHz) to 400 nm (750 Hertz, THz), shorter than that of visible light, but longer than ...
rays of the sun. Because of this, these bacteria have special nutritional requirements.
Current studies on epiphytic bacteria are underway for biotechnological applications areas such as the promotion of plant growth. Epiphytic bacteria are removed from the plant surface through ultraviolet radiation, chemical surface disinfection, and washing .
[T. Boureau, M.-A. Jacques, R. Berruyer, Y. Dessaux, H. Dominguez and C.E. Morris. Comparison of the Phenotypes and Genotypes of Biofilm and Solitary Epiphytic Bacterial Populations on Broad-Leaved Endive]
See also
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Epilith
Lithophytes are plants that grow in or on rocks. They can be classified as either epilithic (or epipetric) or endolithic; epilithic lithophytes grow on the surfaces of rocks, while endolithic lithophytes grow in the crevices of rocks (and are als ...
s, organisms that grow on rocks
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Zoochory
In Spermatophyte plants, seed dispersal is the movement, spread or transport of seeds away from the parent plant.
Plants have limited mobility and rely upon a variety of dispersal vectors to transport their seeds, including both abiotic vectors, ...
, seed dispersal by animals
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Epibiont
An epibiont (from the Ancient Greek meaning "living on top of") is an organism that lives on the surface of another living organism, called the basibiont ("living underneath"). The interaction between the two organisms is called epibiosis. An ep ...
, an organism that grows on another life form
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Epiphyte
An epiphyte is an organism that grows on the surface of a plant and derives its moisture and nutrients from the air, rain, water (in marine environments) or from debris accumulating around it. The plants on which epiphytes grow are called phoroph ...
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Endosymbiont
An ''endosymbiont'' or ''endobiont'' is any organism that lives within the body or cells of another organism most often, though not always, in a mutualistic relationship.
(The term endosymbiosis is from the Greek: ἔνδον ''endon'' "within" ...
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Epiphytic fungus
An epiphytic fungus is a fungus that grows upon, or attached to, a living plant. The term epiphytic derives from the Greek ''epi-'' (meaning 'upon') and ''phyton'' (meaning 'plant').
Examples
Many examples of epiphytic microorganisms exist. The e ...
External links
* http://www.pjoes.com/pdf/12.1/83-93.pdf
References
{{Bacteria
Bacteria
Bacteriology
Botany