Determination of the Community Structure and Diversity of Endophytic Bacteria from Alpinia zerumbet Seeds

摘要

Alpinia zerumbet (Pers.) Burtt et Smith is an important aromatic plant in China. The goal of this study was to apply culture-independent methods based on high-throughput sequencing technology to determine the endophytic microbial community structure, diversity, and its dominant microbes from the five growth stages of A. zerumbet seeds from Southern Sichuan. The number of operational taxonomic units (OTUs) of endophytic bacteria was found to increase first and then decrease during the five periods. A greater number of bacteria were found in the middle maturity period, which included 58 bacterial OTUs. From fruit formation to late maturity, the first population of dominant bacteria from A. zerumbet seeds belonged to Curtobacterium (25.0%), Pseudomonas (34.0%), Kosakonia (37.5%), Curtobacterium (14.0%), and Sphingobacterium (28.5%). These results provided a scientific basis for the reasonable implementation of microbiological control and strengthened the natural fermentation of A. zerumbet products, which is necessary to ensure the quality of products.