Fatty acid competition as a mechanism by which Enterobacter cloacae suppresses Pythium ultimum sporangium germination and damping-off.

ABSTRACT: Interactions between plant-associated microorganisms play important roles in suppressing plant diseases and enhancing plant growth and development. While competition between plant-associated bacteria and plant pathogens has long been thought to be an important means of suppressing plant diseases microbiologically, unequivocal evidence supporting such a mechanism has been lacking. We present evidence here that competition for plant-derived unsaturated long-chain fatty acids between the biological control bacterium Enterobacter cloacae and the seed-rotting oomycete, Pythium ultimum, results in disease suppression. Since fatty acids from seeds and roots are required to elicit germination responses of P. ultimum, we generated mutants of E. cloacae to evaluate the role of E. cloacae fatty acid

SUBMITTER: van Dijk K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC92466 | biostudies-literature | 2000 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature