Beneficial Endophytic Bacteria- Interaction for Crop Enhancement and Resistance to Phytopathogens.

(=) is a fungal endophytic symbiont with the capabilities to enhance plant growth and confer resistance to different stresses. However, the application of this fungus in the field has led to inconsistent results, perhaps due to antagonism with other microbes. Here, we studied the impact of individual bacterial isolates from the endophytic bacterial community on the growth of . We further analyzed how combinations of bacteria and influence plant growth and protection against the phytopathogens and . Bacterial strains of the genera and negatively affected growth on plates, whereas strains and several other bacteria from different taxa stimulated fungal growth. To further explore the potential of bacteria positively interacting with , four of the most promising strains belonging to the genus were selected for further experiments. Some dual inoculations of and strains boosted the beneficial effects triggered by , further enhancing the growth of tomato plants, and alleviating the symptoms caused by the phytopathogens and . However, some combinations of and bacteria were less effective than individual inoculations. By analyzing the genomes of the strains, we revealed that these bacteria encode several genes predicted to be involved in the stimulation of growth, plant development and tolerance to abiotic and biotic stresses. Particularly, a high number of genes related to vitamin and nitrogen metabolism were detected. Taking into consideration multiple interactions on and inside plants, we showed in this study that some bacterial strains may induce beneficial effects on and could have an outstanding influence on the plant-fungus symbiosis.