Species diversity of potato endophytic bacteria in Yakutia

Abstract Potato is an important agricultural crop, and the development of methods to increase its resistance to diseases and yields increase is a current task. One of the approaches to solving this problem is to study potato endophytic microorganisms and their potential use as biocontrol agents. Some of the endophytes act as stimulators of plant growth and development, and some as pathogens of various diseases. In many cases, they not only do not harm the host plant, but even have a beneficial effect on the growth and development. Some endophytes may be antagonists against various phytopathogenic microorganisms. The purpose of our research is to isolate and characterize endophytic bacteria from potato plants of the Yakutyanka variety. It was found that of the 45 isolates, 30 (66%) are nonspore-forming, and the remaining 15 (34%) are spore-forming. The main number of isolates 38 (65%) are gram-negative bacteria and only 7 (15%) are gram-positive bacteria. The main amount of endophytic bacteria in the potato plant is contained in the roots, and the least amount of bacteria is in the leaves and stems. The endophytic microbiota can be very diverse. There are more than 200 genera of microorganisms that can live inside plants. These microorganisms belong to different groups as bacteria, fungi and viruses. The isolated bacterial species were mainly of the following phylum: Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Actinobacteriota, Verrucomicrobiota, Bdellovibrionota, Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, Bdellovibrionota. Lysobacter antibioticus, a representative of the Pseudomonadota phylum, and Peredibacter starrii, a representative of the Bdellovibrionota phylum, are of interest for further study. In the future, research will continue to identify their stimulating, protective features for the use and development of biological products, taking into account natural and climatic conditions, to improve the yield and quality of potatoes.