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Penicillium citrinum, a Drought-Tolerant Endophytic Fungus Isolated from Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) Leaves with Plant Growth-Promoting Abilities

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Abstract

Endophytic fungi have recently garnered significant attention as next-generation bioinoculants due to their plausible role in ameliorating abiotic and biotic stresses. This adaptation is achieved via various signalling molecules and mechanisms established by these symbionts with their hosts. The present study screened 61 endophytic isolates of culturable mycobiome associated with wheat variety PBW725 during their crop cycle. Three endophytic isolates exhibited a minimum reduction in their growth and maximum biomass production during the drought stress developed using polyethylene glycol 6000. Further, these isolates also exhibited plant growth promoting properties by virtue of the production of indole acetic acid, gibberellic acid and ammonia. These isolates also exhibited the propensity to solubilise phosphate and zinc, produce siderophores and further exhibit extracellular enzymatic activities, contributing to plants’ adaptability to abiotic stresses. The best isolate amongst the three was #5TAKL-3a, identified as Penicillium citrinum based on multilocus phylogenetic analysis. The isolate as a bioinoculant enhances various biochemical and physiological properties in planta. Hence our studies indicate that Penicillium citrinum #5TAKL-3a is a potential candidate bioinoculant for field trials to improve the adaptability of the wheat plant under drought stress.

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The datasets generated during the current study are available in the supplementary File.

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Acknowledgements

RK is thankful to the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR), New Delhi, for the award of Junior Research Fellowship (No. 09/677(0041)/2019-EMR1) and department of Biotechnology, Thapar Institute of Engineering & Technology (T.I.E.T.), Patiala, Punjab, for providing the necessary infrastructure to perform the research work.

Funding

This study was supported by the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR), New Delhi, for financial assistance through the award of Junior Research Fellowship No. 09/677(0041)/2019-EMR1.

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  1. Department of Biotechnology, Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology, Patiala, 147004, Punjab, India

    Ramandeep Kaur & Sanjai Saxena

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  1. Ramandeep Kaur
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The present work was conceived and designed by SS and RK. RK performed all experiments and analysed the data. RK prepared the manuscript under the supervision of SS.

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Correspondence to Sanjai Saxena.

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Kaur, R., Saxena, S. Penicillium citrinum, a Drought-Tolerant Endophytic Fungus Isolated from Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) Leaves with Plant Growth-Promoting Abilities. Curr Microbiol 80, 184 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00284-023-03283-3

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