Co-cultivation of diazotrophic terrestrial cyanobacteria and Arabidopsis thaliana

Diazotrophic cyanobacteria are able to fix N-2 from the atmosphere and release it as bioavailable nitrogen what other organisms can utilize. Thus, they could be used as living nitrogen supplier whereby the use of fertilizer could be reduced in agricultural industry what results in a decrease of laughing gas released during fertilizer production. The diazotroph cyanobacterium Desmonostoc muscorum (D. muscorum) was characterized in shake flasks cultivated in nitrogen-free and nitrogen-containing medium. Similar growth rates were reached in both cultivations and the release of ammonium by D. muscorum was detected under nitrogen depletion. Subsequently, D. muscorum was co-cultivated with Arabidopsis thaliana (A. thaliana) in nitrogen-free medium. Additionally, the plant was cultivated in nitrogen containing and nitrogen-free medium without D. muscorum as reference. A co-cultivation led to higher growth rates of the cyanobacterium and similar growth of A. thaliana with similar maximum photochemical efficiency of photosystem II compared to the growth of nitrogen containing medium. Further, accumulation of cyanobacterial cells around the roots of A. thaliana was detected, indicating a successfully induced artificial symbiosis. Based on these results, D. muscorum could be a promising cyanobacterium as living nitrogen supplier for plants.