Diversity of Bacteria Nodulating Medicago arborea in the Northeast Area of Morocco
Kamal Guerrouj* [a], Mustapha Bouterfas[b], Hanaa Abdelmoumen [c] and Mustapha Missbah El Idrissi [c]* Author for corresponding; e-mail address: kamaleddine.guerrouj@yahoo.fr
Volume: Vol.43 No.3 (APRIL 2016)
Research Article
DOI:
Received: 28 March 2014, Revised: -, Accepted: 16 June 2015, Published: -
Citation: Guerrouj K., Bouterfas M., Abdelmoumen H. and Idrissi M.M.E., Diversity of Bacteria Nodulating Medicago arborea in the Northeast Area of Morocco, Chiang Mai Journal of Science, 2016; 43(3): 441-452.
Abstract
A Polyphasic characterization of 30 bacteria isolated from root nodules of Medicago arborea (Medic tree) plants growing in 3 arid soils of the arid northeast region of Morocco was performed. The phenotypic, symbiotic, and cultural characteristics analyzed allowed the description of a broad physiological diversity among the isolates. The phenogram obtained showed 3 main clusters at a similarity coefficient of 78%. The results obtained suggest that the phenotype of these rhizobia might have evolved for adaptation to the local conditions. The genetic characterization which consisted in a rep PCR using ERIC (Enterobacterial Repetitive Intergenic Consensus) primers showed a great diversity and 3 groups and 8 clusters were delimited at a similarity level of 80%. However, the 16S rDNA sequences showed a perfect identity of all the isolates with Sinorhizobium meliloti published sequences. The results showed a relationship between rep-PCR fingerprinting and phenotypic techniques, which are complementary in diversity investigation and allowed revelation of relationships between M. arborea close-related bacterial isolates originated from different geographic location in the northeast area of Morocco.