Acidic soils rapidly retain applied phosphorus fertilizers and consequently present low availability of this nutrient to plants. The use of phosphate-solubilizing microorganisms to help plant phosphorus (P) absorption is a promising sustainable strategy for managing P deficiencies in agricultural soils. Trichoderma strains have been one of the most studied filamentous fungi for improving the production and development of several crop species mainly due to their capability for symbiotic associations and their ability to control soil-borne plant diseases. Thus, this work sought to bioprospect Trichoderma strains from the Amazon rainforest capable of solubilizing/mineralizing soil phosphate and promoting soybean growth. Soybean plants inoculated with selected Trichoderma strains were cultivated in soil under greenhouse conditions and under a gradient of rock phosphate and triple superphosphate. As a result, 19.5% of the isolated Trichoderma strains were able to solubilize phosphate. In addition, those strains produced different organic acids during the solubilization process. Trichoderma spp. strains showed positive responses in the promotion of soybean growth—from 2.1% to 41.1%—as well as in the efficiency of P uptake-up to 141%. These results reveal the potential of Trichoderma spp. from the Amazon biome as promising biofertilizer agents.

Although many advances have been achieved to treat aggressive tumours, cancer remains a leading cause of death and a public health problem worldwide. Among the main approaches for the discovery of new bioactive agents, the prospect of microbial secondary metabolites represents an effective source for the development of drug leads. In this study, we investigated the actinobacterial diversity associated with an endemic Antarctic species, Deschampsia antarctica, by integrated culture-dependent and culture-independent methods and acknowledged this niche as a reservoir of bioactive strains for the production of antitumour compounds. The 16S rRNA-based analysis showed the predominance of the Actinomycetales order, a well-known group of bioactive metabolite producers belonging to the Actinobacteria phylum. Cultivation techniques were applied, and 72 psychrotolerant Actinobacteria strains belonging to the genera Actinoplanes, Arthrobacter, Kribbella, Mycobacterium, Nocardia, Pilimelia, Pseudarthrobacter, Rhodococcus, Streptacidiphilus, Streptomyces and Tsukamurella were identified. The secondary metabolites were screened, and 17 isolates were identified as promising antitumour compound producers. However, the bio-guided assay showed a pronounced antiproliferative activity for the crude extracts of Streptomyces sp. CMAA 1527 and Streptomyces sp. CMAA 1653. The TGI and LC₅₀ values revealed the potential of these natural products to control the proliferation of breast (MCF-7), glioblastoma (U251), lung/non-small (NCI-H460) and kidney (786-0) human cancer cell lines. Cinerubin B and actinomycin V were the predominant compounds identified in Streptomyces sp. CMAA 1527 and Streptomyces sp. CMAA 1653, respectively. Our results suggest that the rhizosphere of D. antarctica represents a prominent reservoir of bioactive actinobacteria strains and reveals it as an important environment for potential antitumour agents.

The development of dwarf wheat cultivars combined with high levels of agrochemical inputs during the green revolution resulted in high yielding cropping systems. However, changes in wheat cultivars were made without considering impacts on plant and soil microbe interactions. We studied the effect of these changes on root traits and on the assembly of rhizosphere bacterial communities by comparing eight wheat cultivars ranging from tall to semi-dwarf plants grown under field conditions. Wheat breeding influenced root diameter and specific root length (SRL). Rhizosphere bacterial communities from tall cultivars were distinct from those associated with semi-dwarf cultivars, with higher differential abundance of Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes and Proteobacteria in tall cultivars, compared with a higher differential abundance of Verrucomicrobia, Planctomycetes and Acidobacteria in semi-dwarf cultivars. Predicted microbial functions were also impacted and network analysis revealed a greater level of connectedness between microbial communities in the tall cultivars relative to semi-dwarf cultivars. Taken together, results suggest that the development of semi-dwarf plants might have affected the ability of plants to recruit and sustain a complex bacterial community network in the rhizosphere.

This work aimed a survey on the biodiversity of maize endophytic actinomycete, and an evaluation of their potential to control the phytopathogenic fungi. From several regions of São Paulo state, 40 strains were isolated from the healthy maize plants. The identification of these strains, based on morphological properties and fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) profile showed that most of them belonged to the Streptomyces genus. These isolates were first screened for the growth inhibition of phytopathogenic fungi and results showed that all the isolate were able to inhibit the development of at least one tested pathogen. Two selected isolates were then evaluated for the control of P. aphanidermatum in cucumber (Cucumis sativa L.) under greenhouse conditions. Isolate 16R3B was able to reduce up to 71% damping-off incidence whereas isolate 14F1D/2 reduced the disease incidence by 36%. Damping- off control in cucumber, mainly for the isolate 16R3B, suggested for its use in greenhouse cucumber producing fields and to be tested in field trials.