Ensifer. meliloti sv. lancerottense nodulates Lotus creticus in alkaline soils of Northern Morocco

Abstract Lotus spp. are a plant of great importance as a forage to improve pastures, to restore degraded soils and the inoculation with best rhizobial strains is widely used in many countries. The aim of this work was to analyze the phylogeny of bacteria nodulating Lotus creticus collected from sandy alkaline saline soil in Tangier province Northern Morocco and determine their identity. Out of 44 bacterial isolates, 21 strains were selected for the phenotypic characterization and symbiotic efficiency evaluation. The enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus (ERIC)-polymerase chain reaction (PCR) fingerprinting showed different patterns at 40% similarity, and the amplified ribosomal DNA restriction analysis (ARDRA) generated one ribotype. Based on both the ERIC-PCR and the ARDRA results, 2 isolates, LcT51 and LcA30, were then chosen for molecular analysis. The 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that the 2 strains are closely related to Ensifer meliloti LMG 6133T with similarity values of 99.69%% to 99.93%. The analysis of concatenated atpD, glnII, gyrB, rpoB and dnaK housekeeping genes sequences confirmed the affiliation of the two strains to E. meliloti LMG 6133T. The phylogenic analysis of the nodC and nifH symbiotic genes, confirmed that L. creticus is nodulated in Tangier alkaline soils by the symbiovar lancerottense of E. meliloti.