EN
Endophytic bacteria (EnB) play a crucial role in plant development. This study was an attempt to isolate and identify dominant cultivable EnB inhabiting young seedlings germinated in vitro and leaves of six maize cultivars grown under field conditions at temperate climate zone with culture-dependent approach. We isolated bacteria from field cropped maize only. Strains were identified based on 16S rRNA gene sequencing. In particular, members of Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes and α- and γ-Proteobacteria were found. Species of two genus Pseudomonas and Bacillus were dominant among them. Higher diversity of EnB was found in plants collected from Kobierzyce, where we identified 35 species from 16 genera with 22 species uniquely found at this field. On the contrary, from maize leaves collected at Smolice we identified 24 species representing 10 genera with 10 species uniquely isolated from this field. However, none of species was common for all cultivars at both locations. Among isolated EnB six species only, Pseudomonas clemancea, Pseudomonas fluorescens, Bacillus megaterium, Bacillus simplex, Arthrobacter nicotinovorans and Arthrobacter nitroguajacolicus, were found in aboveground parts of the same cultivar grown on both tested fields. The fact that the same cultivars, sown from the same lots of seeds, under field conditions on two different locations were colonized with noticeably different associations of cultivable EnB suggest that cultivar genotype is an important factor selecting endophytic bacteria from local agro-environment. To our knowledge this is first report about the significant variation of diversity of cultivable endophytic bacteria inhabiting aboveground parts of the same maize cultivars grown at different locations.