Indian Journal of Agricultural Research

Dates palm is one of the most economically important plant mainly cultivated in Northern Africa, Middle East and South Asia. India is the largest importer of date fruit. In India, Dates palm are cultivated majorly in Gujarat and Rajasthan. Dates farmers facing several problem in India due to lack of scientific resources. Plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) are naturally associated with plants and it improves plant growth and yield by providing growth supplements, increasing tolerance to stressful conditions and providing resistance to fungal/bacterial diseases. We have isolated a PGPR belonging to Exiguobacterium species TNDT2 from Indian dates palm Phoenix dactylifera, in Dindigul region, Tamil Nadu, India. The organism’s genome was sequenced and identified several potential plant growth promoting (PGP) genes.

The organisms genome was sequenced using Whole genome shotgun sequencing method in Illumina platform. Sequences are analysed using various bioinformatics tools and assembled using Velvet assembler. Contigs are annotated using RAST server and deposited in NCBI.

The isolated strain revealed various genetic determinants required for plant growth promotion. This study presents the first report of Exiguobacterium TNDT2 genome from Dates tree rhizosphere. Whole genome analysis and genome annotation reveals that, its genome consist of a 2,891,840 bp chromosome encoding over 3062 proteins, with a 51.63% GC content. Strain TNDT2 encodes a wide repertoire of proteins for plant growth promotion, heavy metal detoxification (cadmium, arsenic, mercury, copper and tellurite), Multi-drug resistance and stress resistance (Heat, cold and salt). Based on this study, Exiguobacterium sp. TNDT2 can be recognized as an important organism with a potential to be incorporated into agricultural practice of Date palm.