The heavy metal-resistant bacteria from rhizospheric soils of wild Populus euphratica forest growing in arid and saline area of northwestern China were investigated by cultivation-dependent methods. After screening on medium sparked with zinc, copper, nickel and lead, 146 bacteria strains with different morphology were isolated and most of them were found to be resistant to at least two kinds of heavy metals. Significant increase in fresh weight and leaf surface area of Arabidopsis thaliana seedlings under metal stress were noticed after inoculated with strains especially those having multiple-resistance to heavy metals such as Phyllobacterium sp. strain C65. Investigation on relationship between auxin production and exogenous zinc concentration revealed that Phyllobacterium sp. strain C65 produced auxin, and production decreased as the concentration of zinc in medium increased. For wheat seedlings treated with zinc of 2 mM, zinc contents in roots of inoculated plants decreased by 27% (P < 0.05) compared to the uninoculated control. Meanwhile, zinc accumulation in the above-ground tissues increased by 22% (P < 0.05). The translocation of zinc from root to above-ground tissues induced by Phyllobacterium sp. strain C65 helped host plants extract zinc from contaminated environments more efficiently thus alleviated the growth inhibition caused by heavy metals.
Keywords: Populus euphratica; metal toxicity; phytoremediation; plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR).