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Interact to survive: Phyllobacterium brassicacearum improves Arabidopsis tolerance to severe water deficit and growth recovery.

ABSTRACT: Mutualistic bacteria can alter plant phenotypes and confer new abilities to plants. Some plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) are known to improve both plant growth and tolerance to multiple stresses, including drought, but reports on their effects on plant survival under severe water deficits are scarce. We investigated the effect of Phyllobacterium brassicacearum STM196 strain, a PGPR isolated from the rhizosphere of oilseed rape, on survival, growth and physiological responses of Arabidopsis thaliana to severe water deficits combining destructive and non-destructive high-throughput phenotyping. Soil inoculation with STM196 greatly increased the survival rate of A. thaliana under several scenarios of severe water deficit. Photosystem II efficiency, assessed at the whole-plant level by high-throughput fluorescence imaging (Fv/Fm), was related to the probability of survival and revealed that STM196 delayed plant mortality. Inoculated surviving plants tolerated more damages to the photosynthetic tissues through a delayed dehydration and a better tolerance to low water status. Importantly, STM196 allowed a better recovery of plant growth after rewatering and stressed plants reached a similar biomass at flowering than non-stressed plants. Our results highlight the importance of plant-bacteria interactions in plant responses to severe drought and provide a new avenue of investigations to improve drought tolerance in agriculture.

SUBMITTER: Bresson J

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4166611 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:Main conclusionThe Arabidopsis Pentatricopeptide repeat 40 (PPR40) insertion mutants have increased tolerance to water deficit compared to wild-type plants. Tolerance is likely the consequence of ABA hypersensitivity of the mutants. Plant growth and development depend on multiple environmental factors whose alterations can disrupt plant homeostasis and trigger complex molecular and physiological responses. Water deficit is one of the factors which can seriously restrict plant growth and viability. Mitochondria play an important role in cellular metabolism, energy production, and redox homeostasis. During drought and salinity stress, mitochondrial dysfunction can lead to ROS overproduction and oxidative stress, affecting plant growth and survival. Alternative oxidases (AOXs) and stabilization of mitochondrial electron transport chain help mitigate ROS damage. The mitochondrial Pentatricopeptide repeat 40 (PPR40) protein was implicated in stress regulation as ppr40 mutants were found to be hypersensitive to ABA and high salinity during germination. This study investigated the tolerance of the knockout ppr40-1 and knockdown ppr40-2 mutants to water deprivation. Our results show that these mutants display an enhanced tolerance to water deficit. The mutants had higher relative water content, reduced level of oxidative damage, and better photosynthetic parameters in water-limited conditions compared to wild-type plants. ppr40 mutants had considerable differences in metabolic profiles and expression of a number of stress-related genes, suggesting important metabolic reprogramming. Tolerance to water deficit was also manifested in higher survival rates and alleviated growth reduction when watering was suspended. Enhanced sensitivity to ABA and fast stomata closure was suggested to lead to improved capacity for water conservation in such environment. Overall, this study highlights the importance of mitochondrial functions and in particular PPR40 in plant responses to abiotic stress, particularly drought.

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Interact to survive: Phyllobacterium brassicacearum improves Arabidopsis tolerance to severe water deficit and growth recovery.

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