Tinkara Bizjak

Research into endophytic bacteria and their potential role in the boreal forest has increased in the recent years as research showed the importance of endophytic bacteria in the agronomy sector. The results showed that endophytic bacteria have different plant-growth promoting properties that can help the plant with nutrient acquisition, pathogen protection, phytohormone production and increased plant growth. A special case of endophytic bacteria are endophytic nitrogen-fixing bacteria, which are bacteria located inside plant tissues that are capable of fixing nitrogen from the atmosphere into ammonia through nitrogenase protein.
My PhD project focuses on endophytic bacteria in the Swedish boreal forest and especially on nitrogen-fixing endophytic bacteria in Scots pine. The goal of the project is to better identify the community of endophytic bacteria in conifer needles, to analyse the presence and activity of nitrogen-fixing endophytic bacteria and to see if the endophytic bacteria could be a benefit to growing conifer seedlings.