Klebsiella michiganensis: a nitrogen-fixing endohyphal bacterium from Ustilago maydis

Ustilago maydis is a pathogenic fungus in Basidiomycota causing corn smut disease. A strain of U. maydis YZZF202006 was isolated from the tumor of corn smut collected from Jingzhou city in China. The intracellular bacteria were confirmed inner hyphal of the strain YZZF202006 by PCR amplification and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) and SYTO-9. An endohyphal bacterium YZUMF202001 was isolated from the protoplasts of the strain YZZF202006. It was gram-negative, short rod-shaped with smooth light yellow colony. The endohyphal bacterium was genomic evidenced as Klebsiella michiganensis on the basis of average nucleotide identity (ANI) analysis and the phylogram. Then K. michiganensis was GFP-Labeled and reintroduced into U. maydis , which confirmed the bacterium can live in hyphae of U.maydis . The bacterium can grow on N-free culture media. Its nitrogenase activity was reached av. 646.25 ± 38.61 nmol·mL − 1 ·h − 1 C 2 H 4 by acetylene reduction assay. A cluster of nitrogen fixation genes ( nifJHDKTXENXUSVWZMFLABQ ) was found from its genome. The endohyphal K. michiganensis may play an important role to help nitrogen fixation for fungi in the future. Key points A endohyphal bacterium Klebsiella sp. was found and isolated from Ustilago maydis. Endohyphal bacterium was identified and evaluated for nitrogen fixation. A GFP-Labeled K. michiganensis was reintroduced into U. maydis by a new method.