To study the diversity of phyllospheric bacteria cultured in flue-cured tobacco leaves, and explore the resource of phyllospheric bacteria, this research collected flue-cured tobacco leaves in their fast growing stage from different traditional cultivation areas of Sichuan province, China. Phyllospheric bacteria strains were isolated by pure culture method, and their genetic diversity and functional characteristics were studied via determination of strains of indole 3-acetic acid (IAA) production ability, phosphorus and potassium solubilizing activities, cellulose degradation activity and antibacterial ability, as well as by transcription factor amplification technology (BOXA1R-PCR), 16S rRNA gene sequencing and phylogeny analysis. The results showed that among the 86 isolates, 13.95% (12/86) of the strains had the ability to produce IAA, 4of them had a higher yield (>57μg/mL); 10.47% (9/86) had phosphate solubilizing activities; 9.30% (8/86) showed solubilizing potassium activities. Based on the BOXA1R-PCR patterns, 12 representative strains were selected for 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Phylogenetic analysis based on the 16S rRNA gene sequencing showed that the isolates belonged to Arthrobacter, Lysinibacillus, Stenotrophomonas, Achromobacter, and Pseudomona, in which Pseudomona was the dominant genus. All results indicated that abundant culturable phyllospheric bacteria existed in flue-cured tobacco leaves in traditional tobacco areas in Sichuan province.
