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Effects of Azospirillum brasilense indole-3-acetic acid production on inoculated wheat plants

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Abstract

The production of phytohormones by plant-growth promoting rhizobacteria is considered to be an important mechanism by which these bacteria promote plant growth. In this study the importance of indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) produced by Azospirillum brasilense Sp245 in the observed plant growth stimulation was investigated by using Sp245 strains genetically modified in IAA production. Firstly wild-type A. brasilense Sp245 and an ipdC knock-out mutant which produces only 10% of wild-type IAA levels (Vande Broek et al., J Bacteriol 181:1338–1342, 1999) were compared in a greenhouse inoculation experiment for a number of plant parameters, thereby clearly demonstrating the IAA effect in plant growth promotion. Secondly, the question was addressed whether altering expression of the ipdC gene, encoding the key enzyme for IAA biosynthesis in A. brasilense, could also contribute to plant growth promotion. For that purpose, the endogenous promoter of the ipdC gene was replaced by either a constitutive or a plant-inducible promoter and both constructs were introduced into the wild-type strain. Based on a greenhouse inoculation experiment it was found that the introduction of these recombinant ipdC constructs could further improve the plant-growth promoting effect of A. brasilense. These data support the possibility of constructing Azospirillum strains with better performance in plant growth promotion.

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Abbreviations

CFU:

colony-forming unit

GC-MS:

gas chromatography-mass spectrometry

IAA:

indole-3-acetic acid

Km:

kanamycin

PGPR:

plant-growth promoting rhizobacteria

Tc:

tetracycline

Trp:

tryptophan

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge financial support from the Belgian Ministry of Middle Class Sized Enterprises and Agriculture (Onderzoekingen gesubsidieerd door het Ministerie van Middenstand en Landbouw-Bestuur voor Onderzoek en Ontwikkeling) and the EU (contract BIO4-CT96-0027). S.S is financed by the Interuniversity Attraction Poles (IAP P6/27).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre of Microbial and Plant Genetics, K.U. Leuven, Kasteelpark Arenberg 20-Bus 2460, 3001, Heverlee, Belgium

    Stijn Spaepen, Sofie Dobbelaere, Anja Croonenborghs & Jos Vanderleyden

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  1. Stijn Spaepen
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  2. Sofie Dobbelaere
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  3. Anja Croonenborghs
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  4. Jos Vanderleyden
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Correspondence to Jos Vanderleyden.

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Responsible Editor: Petra Marschner.

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Spaepen, S., Dobbelaere, S., Croonenborghs, A. et al. Effects of Azospirillum brasilense indole-3-acetic acid production on inoculated wheat plants. Plant Soil 312, 15–23 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-008-9560-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-008-9560-1

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