Observation of endophytic Bacillus spp. and other taxa of bacteria inside fruits and seeds of grapevine plants.

摘要

It is well documented that endophytic bacteria can colonize vegetative plant organs, but the evidence is still scarce regarding colonization of internal tissues of fruits and seeds. We previously gave indications on which taxa can inhabit under natural conditions fruits and seeds of grapevine and studied their niches of colonization. In this study we particularly investigated colonization of Bacillus spp., which colonize fruits and seeds of grapevine plants endophytically. Bacteria were visualized via fluorescence in situ hybridization inside berry pulp and seeds of grapevine grown in an Austrian vineyard. The bacteria colonized intercellular spaces inside the pulp of berries. Although it is difficult to visualize bacteria inside seeds due to the difficulty to make sections for microscopy, we could demonstrate that these bacteria can also be detected along some cell walls inside seeds in few sections, whereas in other sections no bacteria were observed. The findings further demon-strated that plant-colonizing bacteria can establish endophytic subpopulations inside parts of fruits and seeds of grapevine plants.