Gibberellin production and plant growth promotion by a newly isolated strain of Gliomastix murorum

Endophytic fungi are known to play a vital role in the growth and development of their host plants. We isolated eleven endophytic fungi from the roots of sand-dune plant Elymus mollis and their growth-promoting ability was studied on waito-c rice and Atriplex gemelinii. We found that eight fungal isolates promoted growth of both plants. Fungal isolate EM-7-1 induced maximum growth promotion in waito-c rice (9.25 cm) and Atriplex gemelinii (3.1 cm), which was higher than wild-type Gibberella fujikuroi. Gibberellin analysis of EM-7-1 culture filtrate showed the presence of bioactive gibberellins GA ₁ (0.32 ng/ml), GA₃ (5.76 ng/ml), GA₄ (0.82 ng/ml) and GA₇: (0.1 ng/ml) along with physiologically inactive GA₅ (0.59 ng/ml), GA₉ (5.38 ng/ml), GA₂₀ (0.25 ng/ml) and GA₂₄ (2.03 ng/ml). The fungal isolate EM-7-1 was identified as new strain of Gliomastix murorum (G. murorum KACC43902) with 99% sequence homology. This study reports the plant growth-promoting ability of genus Gliomastix and the presence of GA₅ in the culture filtrate of fungi for the first time.