Abstract
The colonization of three types of different plants, Zea mays,
Arabidopsis thaliana, and Lemna minor, by GFP-labeled
Gram-positive rhizobacterium Bacillus amyloliquefaciens
FZB42 was studied in gnotobiotic systems using confocal
laser scanning microscopy and electron microscopy. It was
demonstrated that FZB42 was able to colonize all the plants.
On one hand, similar to some Gram-negative rhizobacteria
like Pseudomonas, FZB42 favored the areas such as the
concavities in root surfaces and the junctions where lateral
roots occurred from the primary roots; on the other hand, we
clearly demonstrated that root hairs were a popular habitat
to the Gram-positive rhizobacterium. FZB42 exhibited a
specific colonization pattern on each of the three types of
plants. On Arabidopsis, tips of primary roots were favored by
FZB42 but not so on maize. On Lemna, FZB42 accumulated
preferably along the grooves between epidermal cells of
roots and in the concave spaces on ventral sides of fronds.
The results suggested L. minor to be a promising tool for
investigations on plant-microbial interaction due to a series
of advantages it has. Colonization of maize and Arabidopsis
roots by FZB42 was also studied in the soil system. Comparatively,
higher amount of FZB42 inoculum (~108 CFU/ml)
was required for detectable root colonization in the soil
system, where the preference of FZB42 cells to root hairs
were also observed.
Citations
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