Análise genômica e filogenética de bactérias promotoras de crescimento de plantas

Abstract

Bioinformatics has established itself as an essential research field in modern biology, facilitating the analysis of large volumes of biological data generated by next-generation sequencing technologies. This interdisciplinary field combines biology, computer science, and statistics to interpret complex data, providing fundamental insights into various areas such as genomics, proteomics, transcriptomics, and metabolomics. Thus, the present study aims to analyze the genomic characteristics of plant growth-promoting bacteria through genome assembly and annotation, as well as comparative phylogenetic and metabolic analyses. The main focus is on the production of primary and secondary metabolites, with particular emphasis on the identification of genes of interest and subsequent in vitro validation. The research began with the selection of bacterial strains from the collection of the Microbial Biotechnology Laboratory, followed by cultivation, DNA extraction, and sequencing. Additionally, all 14 genomes of strains of the same species available in the NCBI database during the study period were selected for subsequent analyses. The methodology then advanced to genome assembly and annotation. These steps were complemented by phylogenetic analyses, including the construction of phylogenetic trees based on complete genomes using the maximum likelihood method with bootstrap parameters and 16S rRNA sequences through maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference with bootstrap support and posterior probability, along with a comparative analysis of the bacterial proteome from the collection. The metabolic profile of the bacterial strains was investigated through in silico gene mining, followed by the assessment of microbial activity via in vitro potassium and phosphate solubilization tests. The study provides a comprehensive analysis of Bacillus nitratireducens strains LABIM48, LABIM49, LABIM50, LABIM51, and LABIM53, highlighting their close genomic, phylogenetic, and metabolic relationships. The results of this study indicate a high degree of genomic conservation among the strains, suggesting a common origin and conserved genetic evolution. Phylogenetic analyses confirmed that all strains belong to the same species, Bacillus nitratireducens. The analysis of essential, accessory, and unique genes revealed an open and increasingly adaptive pangenome, as indicated by the number of new genes and the different collection sites of the bacteria used. In conclusion, the metabolic analysis revealed the potential for the production of various bioactive compounds, while in vitro tests confirmed the phosphate and potassium solubilization capacity, supporting the predictions made by the computational analysis of organic acids.