Sequencing and analysis of three plant growth promoting rhizobacteria isolated from the rhizosphere of plantation crops coconut, cocoa and arecanut

Coconut, cocoa and arecanut are commercial plantation crops that play a vital role in the Indian economy. We sequenced three plant growth promoting rhizobacteria from coconut (CPCRI-1), cocoa (CPCRI-2) and arecanut (CPCRI-3) respectively. The draft genome sequences for CPCRI-1 [4.7 Mb], CPCRI-2 [5.9 Mb] and for CPCRI-3 [5.1 Mb] encode 4056, 4637 and 4286 protein-coding genes, respectively. CPCRI-1 and CPCRI-3 belong to Enterobacteriaceae family and CPCRI-2 groups with Pseudomonadacea family. Genomes of all three bacteria contain genes for central carbohydrate metabolism, indole acetic acid production and quorum sensing indicating the presence of plant growth promoting traits. Functional annotation comparison identified several differentially enriched groups. For example, CPCRI-2 genome contains higher percentage of transcription initiation and regulation and siderophore pyoverdin genes compared to the CPCRI-1 and CPCRI-3. CPCRI-2 genome contains several genes involved in the degradation of various aromatic compounds such as benzoate, tetrachloroethane, bisphenolA etc. CPCRI-1 genome contains a large number of genes associated with flagella and pili biosynthesis as compared to CPCRI-2 and CPCRI-3 genomes. Genome sequences of these bacteria will enhance our understanding of the interactions between these rhizobacteria and their respective crops. This will help in designing sustainable agriculture strategies by using rhizobacteria as growth promoting agents.