{
  "abstract": "Salt stress severely limits maize seedling establishment, and microbiology-based biostimulants offer a promising strategy for improving crop performance under salinity. However, whether plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) can complement melatonin (MT) in regulating maize salt responses remains unclear. Here, maize seedlings grown hydroponically under 100 mM NaCl were treated with a mixed PGPR inoculant comprising Bacillus velezensis and Brevibacterium frigoritolerans, foliar MT, or their combination. Physiological traits were measured across eight treatments, and comparative transcriptomic and metabolomic analyses were performed between salt stress alone (S) and the combined treatment (S+R+MT). The combined treatment more effectively restored plant height, root length, biomass, root activity, photosynthetic pigments, proline, soluble sugars, and antioxidant enzyme activities than single treatments, while decreasing malondialdehyde and H₂O₂ accumulation. Untargeted metabolomics identified 836 differential metabolites, mainly enriched in amino acid biosynthesis and metabolism, the pentose phosphate pathway, nucleotide metabolism, and ABC transporters. Transcriptome analysis identified 7,307 differentially expressed genes enriched in carbon metabolism, amino acid biosynthesis, starch and sucrose metabolism, phenylpropanoid biosynthesis, and MAPK signaling. Integrated analysis indicated that the combined treatment coordinated osmotic adjustment, carbon allocation, glutathione/ascorbate-associated redox buffering, and phenylpropanoid-related defense. These results indicate that co-application of PGPR and MT can improve the salt tolerance of maize seedlings under controlled hydroponic NaCl stress.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "College of Environmental Science & Engineering, Qilu University of Technology (Shandong Academy of Sciences), Jinan, Shandong 250353, P. R. China."
  ],
  "article_type": "research article",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 5,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Xiaoyong Li"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Chen Wang"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Qing Feng"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Yu Qiao"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Yuning Zhang"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/asxc4ybe7d4vt.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.4014/jmb.2606.06019",
  "fulltext_url": "https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC13725148",
  "id": "asxc4ybe7d4vt",
  "issns": [
    "1017-7825",
    "1738-8872"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42967586",
  "language": "eng",
  "licence": "CC-BY",
  "licence_label": "CC BY",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "heading",
      "Environmental Microbiology and Biotechnology (EMB)"
    ],
    [
      "heading",
      "Plant Microbiology"
    ],
    [
      "heading",
      "Research article"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "1110|Plant Growth Enhancement Techniques"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7225050513",
  "pdf_url": "https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC13725148?pdf=render",
  "pmcid": "PMC13725148",
  "pmid": "42967586",
  "published": "2026-10-13",
  "publisher": "Korean Society for Microbiology and Biotechnology",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/asxc4ybe7d4vt.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-11-03T15:20:53Z",
      "native_id": "MED:42967586",
      "source": "europepmc",
      "url": "https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42967586"
    },
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-11-04T12:23:36Z",
      "native_id": "PMC13725148",
      "source": "pmc",
      "url": "https://doi.org/10.4014/jmb.2606.06019"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "biology",
      "origin": "openalex:1110|Plant Growth Enhancement Techniques",
      "subfield": "plant-biology"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Combined Bacillus velezensis-Brevibacterium frigoritolerans Biostimulant and Melatonin Improves Salt Tolerance in Maize Seedlings and Is associated with Physiological and Transcriptome-Metabolome Changes.",
  "title_text": "Combined Bacillus velezensis-Brevibacterium frigoritolerans Biostimulant and Melatonin Improves Salt Tolerance in Maize Seedlings and Is associated with Physiological and Transcriptome-Metabolome Changes.",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-11-05T12:21:48Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/asxc4ybe7d4vt",
  "venue": "Journal of microbiology and biotechnology",
  "versions": []
}