Microbe- plant interaction as a sustainable tool for mopping up heavy metal contaminated sites

BACKGROUND: Phytoremediation is a green technology that removes heavy metal (HM) contamination from the environment by using HM plant accumulators. Among soil microbiota, plant growth promoting bacteria (PGPR) have a role influencing the metal availability and uptake. METHODS: This current study evaluates the plant growth promoting qualities of microbial flora isolated from rhizosphere, plant roots, and marine aquatic HMs polluted environments in Alexandria through several biochemical and molecular traits. Metal contents in both collected soils and plant tissues were measured. Transcript levels of marker genes (HMA3 and HMA4) were analyzed. RESULTS: Three terrestrial and one aquatic site were included in this study based on the ICP-MS identification of four HMs (Zn, Cd, Cu, and Ni) or earlier reports of HMs contamination. Using the VITEK2 bacterial identification system, twenty-two bacteria isolated from these loci were biochemically described. Pseudomonas and Bacillus were the most dominant species. Furthermore, the soil microbiota collected from the most contaminated HMs site with these two were able to enhance the Helianthus annuus L. hyper-accumulation capacity significantly. Specifically, sunflower plants cultivated in soils with HMs adapted bacteria were able to accumulate about 1.7–2.5-folds more Zn and Cd in their shoots, respectively. CONCLUSION: The influence of PGPR to stimulate crop growth under stress is considered an effective strategy. Overall, our findings showed that plants cultivated in HMs contaminated sites in the presence of PGPR were able to accumulate significant amounts of HMs in several plant parts than those cultivated in soils lacking microbiota. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12866-022-02587-x.