Abstract: Photosynthetic bacteria (PSB) are summarized as the group of microbes capable of carrying out photosynthesis with the employment of Bacteriochlorophyll. Members of PSB are regarded as important components in microbiome from plant surface and soil. Attributed to their extraordinary metabolism versatility, photosynthetic bacteria often play significant roles in processes like plant nutrient uptake, growth and development, as well as stress resistance and establish close relationships with plants and other microorganisms in agroecosystem. This confers PSB a reputation as plant beneficial microorganism. In this article, we mainly focus on the PSB-produced effects on the plant nutrition, growth promotion, stress resistance and disease management. The biological activities carried out by PSB, e.g., nitrogen fixation, phosphate solubilization, heavy metal immobilization, phytohormone and plant growth regulator production, antimicrobial compound synthesis, plant systemic resistance induction, are illustrated. Those activities are recognized as the main resorts to maintain the plant and soil health. In conclusion, as a group of microbes with properties including metabolism versatility, wide distribution, flexibly adaptive to environment, and intimately interactive with plants, photosynthetic bacteria can be exploited as a valuable resource for development of novel multi-functional bio-fertilizer and bio-control agent.

Key words: photosynthetic bacteria, agricultural functional microorganism, plant nutrition, plant health