Mangrove-Derived Endophytic Bacteria Enhance Growth, Yield, and Stress Resilience in Rice

Global climate change increasingly challenges agriculture with flooding and salinity. Among strategies to enhance crop resilience to these stresses, we tested several endophytic bacterial strains from mangroves, which are permanently exposed to flooding and high salinity. We show several strains that can enhance flooding and salinity tolerance in Arabidopsis and rice plants. Two strains and their combination massively enhanced the growth and yield of <i>Oryza sativa</i> cv. Nipponbare under both soil and hydroponic growth conditions with and without salt treatment. The bacteria-induced transcriptome changes in <i>O. sativa</i> roots, particularly related to ABA-signaling and lignin and suberin deposition in root tissues, explain the altered responses of colonized rice plants to hypoxic and saline stress conditions. Importantly, bacterially colonized rice plants exhibited enhanced yield and improved grain quality. These results show that microbes can be a powerful tool for enhancing the yield and resilience of rice to hypoxic and saline stress conditions.