Variation in Endophytic Bacterial Communities Associated with the Rhizomes of Tropical Bamboos

To explore the diversity of bacterial endophytes of rhizomes of bamboo growing in the central part of India; five Bamboo species were collected and investigated. The culturable endophytic bacteria were isolated by serial dilution and culture-dependant method and their diversity was studied with a 16S rDNA sequence analysis. Consequently, a total of 31 endophytic bacteria isolated from these bamboo species, and the isolates were affiliated to 17 different genera. Proteobacteria was the dominant phylum with the highest diversity containing 11 genera and Staphylococcus, Herbaspirillum, Pseudomonas and Stenotrophomonas being the most frequently observed genera. The Microbacterium, Chryseobacterium, and Chitinophaga were the solitary representative of classes Actinobacteria, Flavobacteria, and Sphingobacteria, respectively. The diversity of bacteria was greater in Dendrocalamus species than in Bambusa species. Based on the putative identity of isolates and their functional roles as reported in the literature, the isolated bacterial endophytes seems to be the promising sustainable bioresource for bioaugmentation of plant growth particularly bamboos in tropical areas including forest.