Assessing the Bacterial Community Structure in the Rhizoplane of Wetland Plants

Plant-microorganism interaction in the rhizosphere is important for nutrient cycling, carbon sequestration in natural ecosystems, contaminant elimination and ecosystem functioning. Abundance of microbial communities and variation in species composition can be an imperative determinant of phytoremediation capability. In the present study we have assessed the bacterial community structure in the rhizoplane of wetland plants, Acorus calamus, Typha latifolia, and Phragmites karka using Terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism technique. The most dominant phylum, in the plants under study, was phylum Firmicutes, followed by Proteobacteria and Actinobacteria. Bacterial groups belonging to phylum Chloroflexi, Acidobacteria, Deferribacteres and Thermotogae also showed their presence in P. karka and T. latifolia but were absent in A. calamus. Diversity indices of bacterial community were assessed. The results of this study show the presence of bacterial phyla which play an important role in bioremediation of contaminants. Thus these plants can be used as potential candidates of phytoremediation.