Auxin Producing.docVIP

American Journal of Plant Sciences, 2013, 4, 1693-1700 /10.4236/ajps.2013.49206 Published Online September 2013 (/journal/ajps) Auxin Producing Pseudomonas Strains: Biological Candidates to Modulate the Growth of Triticum aestivum Beneficially Atia Iqbal , Shahida Hasnain 1 1,2 1 Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, University of Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan; The Women University of Multan, 2 Multan, Pakistan. Email: pisces_dream2000@ Received May 24 , 2013; revised June 25 , 2013; accepted July 15 , 2013 th th th Copyright ? 2013 Atia Iqbal, Shahida Hasnain. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. ABSTRACT The screening of plant growth promoting rhizobacteria is a crucial step for their utilization as beneficial input in im- proving the crop productivity. This study was carried out to screen and evaluate the auxin producing rhizospheric iso- lated Pseudomonas strains for their potential to improve growth of Triticum aestivum (wheat) plant under laboratory and natural conditions. Three strains PNS-4, PNS-6 and PNS-15 were evaluated for auxin production by Salkowski’s method and further confirmed by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The PNS-4, PNS-6 and PNS-15 strains were identified by I6S rRNA gene sequencing that showed maximum resemblance with Pseudomonas mendo- cina (99%), Pseudomonas alcaliphila (99%) and Pseudomonas sp. (99%) respectively. Selected strains were found to produce auxin with and without the amendment of exogenously applied L-tryptophan, a major precursor for auxin bio- synthesis and an important constituent of plant root exudates. Effi