LAUSR

ABSTRACT Current study aimed at exploring the diversity of bacterial endophytes with Boswellia sacra and their role in copper (Cu) stress to tomato plants. Bacterial endophytes were belonged to Bacillus, Rhizobium and Paenibacillus, which were screened against Cu (0–10 mM) stress to dwarf and normal rice seeds. Among strains, Bacillus amyloliquefaciens BSL16 showed significantly higher bioremediation potential by accumulating high Cu and promoting growth of rice seeds. B. amyloliquefaciens BSL16 significantly increased growth of tomato plants during 2.5 mM Cu stress. Active colonization of BSL16 reduced the accumulation of Cu in leaf, shoot, and root, and in parallel up-regulated total protein contents in leaf and stem. Glutathione peroxidase and reduced glutathione contents were significantly higher and lipid peroxidation was lower in endophyte-treated tomato plants as compared to Cu treatment. The current results conclude that application of metal bio-accumulating bacteria can help in improving the plant growth of tomato plants during Cu stress.