Phenazine-1-Carboxylic Acid and Soil Moisture Influence Biofilm Development and Turnover of Rhizobacterial Biomass On Wheat Root Surfaces

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

6-2018

Department

Biological Sciences

School

Biological, Environmental, and Earth Sciences

Abstract

Phenazine‐1‐carboxylic acid (PCA) is produced by rhizobacteria in dryland but not in irrigated wheat fields of the Pacific Northwest, USA. PCA promotes biofilm development in bacterial cultures and bacterial colonization of wheat rhizospheres. However, its impact upon biofilm development has not been demonstrated in the rhizosphere, where biofilms influence terrestrial carbon and nitrogen cycles with ramifications for crop and soil health. Furthermore, the relationships between soil moisture and the rates of PCA biosynthesis and degradation have not been established. In this study, expression of PCA biosynthesis genes was upregulated relative to background transcription, and persistence of PCA was slightly decreased in dryland relative to irrigated wheat rhizospheres. Biofilms in dryland rhizospheres inoculated with the PCA‐producing (PCA+) strain Pseudomonas synxantha 2‐79RN10 were more robust than those in rhizospheres inoculated with an isogenic PCA‐deficient (PCA‐) mutant strain. This trend was reversed in irrigated rhizospheres. In dryland PCA+ rhizospheres, the turnover of 15N‐labelled rhizobacterial biomass was slower than in the PCA‐ and irrigated PCA+ treatments, and incorporation of bacterial 15N into root cell walls was observed in multiple treatments. These results indicate that PCA promotes biofilm development in dryland rhizospheres, and likely influences crop nutrition and soil health in dryland wheat fields.

Publication Title

Environmental Microbiology

Volume

20

Issue

6

First Page

2178

Last Page

2194

Link to Full Text

Find in your library

Share

COinS