Project description:Unlike pathogens that trigger plant defense responses, beneficial microbes are compatible with plants. One possible reason for the compatibility is that the microbial factors from beneficial microbes are inert in that they do not trigger plant defense responses. Little is known about the mechanisms underlying this seemingly inert relation. Here we report that Arabidopsis lacking the gene Growth-Promotion 1 (GP1) becomes defensive to microbial volatiles from Bacillus amyloliqueficiens strain GB03, a beneficial rhizobacterium. The gp1 mutant was isolated in a forward genetic screen for mutants that show defectiveness in GB03-triggered plant inducible vigor. GP1 encodes a stearoyl-ACP desaturase that catalyzes the desaturation of stearic acid (18:0) to oleic acid (18:1). Consistently, plant inducible vigor was also impaired by chemical enhancement of 18:1 catabolism, while genetic disruption of 18:1 catabolism largely restored the inducible vigor in gp1. When exposed to GB03-emitted microbial volatiles (GMVs), wild type plants showed transcriptional up-regulation of growth-promoting processes and down-regulation of defense responses; in contrast, the gp1 transcriptome displayed elevated defense responses when treated with GMVs. Meanwhile disruption of salicylic acid-mediated defense partially restored plant inducible vigor in gp1. Microbiota profiling revealed that GP1 dysfunction alters the assemblage of plant-associated rhizobacteria communities, including a reduction in the Bacillaceae family that is known to contain many beneficial rhizobacteria species. Consistently, gp1 mutants showed severely impaired root colonization of GB03. Our findings suggest that GP1 prevents the plant defense system from being mistakenly activated by non-pathogenic microbial factors, thereby allowing mutualistic association between the plant and beneficial microbes.
Project description:During plant life, roots support beneficial associations with soil inhabiting microbes, mainly fungi and bacteria. Increasing evidence suggests that plant-associated microorganisms can promote plant growth and expand immune functions of the plant host. The beneficial entomopathogenic fungus Beauveria bassiana colonizes plant tissues in an asymptomatic way, triggering poorly characterized plant metabolic changes, which negatively affect both pest insects and plant pathogens. B. bassiana has an extremely broad host spectrum, including tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.). In order to obtain a great overall snapshot of molecular events regulating tomato-B. bassiana interaction, plant proteome and hormonome changes induced over the time by the fungus have been in-depth analyzed by using a combination of high throughput profiling techniques and bioinformatics tools. The proteomics data highlighted interesting molecular pathways affected by B. bassiana related to primary and secondary metabolism and plant growth. Additionally, downregulation of a member of the endochitinase family and upregulation of calcium channel and transporter proteins suggested well-established plant-fungus symbiosis. The molecular pathways linked to protein/amino acids turn-over and to the biosynthesis of energy compounds shed some light on the strategies exploited by the plant to get the most out of the beneficial interaction in improving growth and development.
Project description:Regulated host cell death is part of a plant defense strategy against pathogens but it is also involved in accommodating certain beneficial root microbes. We have identified extracellular metabolites and intracellular metabolic signals that contribute to beneficial root fungal endophyte colonization, and uncovered a conserved cell death mechanism likely co-opted for establishing plant-endophyte symbiosis.
Project description:High light stress in subtropical and tropical regions strongly limits agricultural production due to photo-oxidative damage, decreased growth and yield. Here, we investigated whether beneficial microbes can protect plants under high light stress. We show that Enterobacter sp. SA187 (SA187) assists Arabidopsis in maintaining growth under high light stress, reducing the accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and maintaining photosynthesis. Under high light stress, SA187 induces dynamic transcriptional changes related to a fortified iron metabolism and redox system in Arabidopsis. A genetic analysis shows that SA187-induced plant high light stress tolerance is mediated by ethylene signaling via the transcription factor EIN3 to enhance iron metabolism. In summary, we show that Arabidopsis interaction with SA187 results in sustained photosynthesis under high light stress suggesting that beneficial microbes could be effective and cheap means for enhancing high light stress tolerance in crops.
Project description:Microbes of the root-associated microbiome contribute to improve resilience and fitness of plants. In this study, the interaction between the salt stress tolerance-inducing beneficial bacterium Enterobacter sp. SA187 and Arabidopsis was investigated with a special focus on the plant immune system. Among the immune signalling mutants, the Lys-motif receptors LYK4 strongly affected the beneficial interaction. Overexpression of the chitin receptor components LYK4 compromised the beneficial effect of SA187 on Arabidopsis. Transcriptome analysis revealed that the role of LYK4 in immunity is intertwined with a function in remodeling defense responses. Overall, our data indicate that components of the plant immune system are key elements in mediating beneficial metabolite-induced plant abiotic stress tolerance.
Project description:Plants establish mutualistic association with beneficial microbes while deploy the immune system to defend against pathogens. Little is known about the interplay between mutualism and immunity and about the mediator molecules. Here we show that plants respond differently to a bacterial volatile compound through integral modulation of the immune system and the phosphate starvation response (PSR) system, resulting in either mutualism or immunity. We found that the same exposure of a recognized plant growth-promoting rhizobacterium unexpectedly causes either beneficial or deleterious effects to plants. The beneficial-to-deleterious transition is dependent on plant nutrition of phosphorus (P) and is mediated by diacetyl (DA), a bacterial volatile compound. In P-sufficient plants, DA partially suppresses plant production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and enhances symbiont colonization without compromising disease resistance. In P-deficient plants, DA elevates phytohormone-mediated immunity and consequently causes plant hypersensitivity to P deficiency. Therefore, DA affects the types of relation between plants and certain rhizobacteria in a way that depends on plant PSR system and phytohormone-mediated immunity.
Project description:High light stress in subtropical and tropical regions strongly limits agricultural production due to photo-oxidative damage, decreased growth and yield. Here, we investigated whether beneficial microbes can protect plants under high light stress. We show that Enterobacter sp. SA187 (SA187) assists Arabidopsis in maintaining growth under high light stress, reducing the accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and maintaining photosynthesis. Under high light stress, SA187 induces dynamic transcriptional changes related to a fortified iron metabolism and redox system in Arabidopsis. A genetic analysis shows that SA187-induced plant high light stress tolerance is mediated by ethylene signaling via the transcription factor EIN3 to enhance iron metabolism. In summary, we show that Arabidopsis interaction with SA187 results in sustained photosynthesis under high light stress suggesting that beneficial microbes could be an effective and inexpensive means for enhancing high light stress tolerance in crops.
Project description:The association between soil microbes and plant roots is present in all natural and agricultural environments. Microbes can be beneficial, pathogenic, or neutral to the host plant development and adaptation to abiotic or biotic stresses. Progress in investigating the functions and changes in microbial communities in diverse environments have been rapidly developing in recent years, but the changes in root function is still largely understudied. The aim of this study was to determine how soil bacteria influence maize root transcription and microRNAs (miRNAs) populations in a controlled inoculation of known microbes over a defined time course. At each time point after inoculation of the maize inbred line B73 with ten bacterial isolates, DNA and RNA were isolated from roots. The V4 region of the 16S rRNA gene was amplified from the DNA and sequenced with the Illumina MiSeq platform. Amplicon sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene indicated that most of the microbes successfully colonized maize roots. The colonization was dynamic over time and varied with the specific bacterial isolate. Small RNA sequencing and mRNA-Seq was done to capture changes in the root transcriptome from 0.5 to 480 hours after inoculation. The transcriptome and small RNA analyses revealed epigenetic and transcriptional changes in roots due to the microbial inoculation. This research provides the foundational data needed to understand how plant roots interact with bacterial partners and will be used to develop predictive models for root response to bacteria.
Project description:Forming symbiotic associations with beneficial microbes are important strategies for sessile plants to acquire nitrogen and phosphorus nutrients from the soil. Root exudates play key roles on set-up of the rhizosphere microbiome. According to the needs for nitrogen or phosphorus, plants can adjust the root exudates composition to attract proper microbes. Flavonoids are a group of secondary metabolites that are well studied in shaping the root microbiome, especially the root nodule symbiosis in legumes. Here, we show the medicago truncatula phosphate sensors SPX1 and SPX3 regulate flavonoids biosynthesis to recruit nitrogen-fixing microbes for nitrogen acquisition. Nitrogen-fixing microbes were less recruited in spx1spx3 double mutant root rhizosphere. This was caused by lower flavonoids biosynthesis related genes expression, which resulted in lower flavonoids levels in the root exudates compared to wild type plant R108. Further analysis indicates the regulation of flavonoids biosynthesis is through the SPX1 and SPX3 interaction transcription factor PHR2. We propose the SPX-PHR phosphate homeostasis regulation network also control microbe-dependent nitrogen acquisition according to phosphate levels. Thus, SPX1 and SPX3 play important roles to keep a microbe-dependent nitrogen and phosphorus absorption balance for optimal growth.