Prospecting biological properties of seed endophytic bacteria by data mining of genome sequences

The COVID-19 crisis has clearly demonstrated how human health and food security depend closely from our relationship with nature and, more particularly, from the protection ofbiodiversity. Recently, the global orientation for the development of an agriculture system respectful to the environment and human health has been a strategy supported by the FAO which encourages partner countries to preserve and use natural biodiversity to improve nutrition, increase agricultural productivity, raise the standard of living in rural populations, and contribute to global economic growth. In this context, the use of bacteria and their bioactive substances is an innovative strategy to increase plant productivity, health and resilience to environmental constraints. The discovery of beneficial microorganisms inhabiting plant tissues (endophytes) that contribute to the well functioning of plant physiology and response to biotic and abiotic constraints through the production of several of bioactive compounds could offer a new sustainable and promising way to use them for increasing plant production. The seed born endophytic bacteria, which are transmitted through generations like somehow genetic material, are known to contribute to vital functions in plants and produce several antimicrobial molecules such as lipopeptides (Toure et al., 2004 ; Ongena et al., 2008 ; Arrebola et al., 2010 ; Gao et al., 2017 ; Gong et al., 2014 ; Lam et al., 2021) and volatil organic compounds (VOCs) (Audrain et al., 2015). So, the objectives of this project is to sequence the whole genome of eight promising seed born endophytic bacterial strains isolated from Solanaceae seeds, and to use genomic data for exploring the antimicrobial spectrum of the strains by searching potential genes clusters involved in the production of antimicrobials and plant growth promoting compounds, as well as genes clusters involved in the pathways of biosynthetic of VOCs which remain elusive in literature as pointed by several authors (Dudareva et al. 2013; Audrain et al. 2015; Kanchiswamy et al. 2015).