The plant growth promoting rhizobacterium Achromobacter sp. 5B1, rescues Arabidopsis seedlings from alkaline stress by enhancing root organogenesis and hormonal responses

Soil alkalinity is a critical environmental factor for plant growth and distribution in ecosystems. An alkaline condition (pH > 7) is imposed by the rising concentration of hydroxides and cations, and prevails in semiarid and arid environments, which represent more than 25% of the total arable land of the world. Despite the great pressure exerted by alkalinity for root viability and plant survival, scarce information is available to understand how root microbes contribute to alkaline pH adaptation. Here, we assessed the effects of alkalinity on shoot and root biomass production, chlorophyll content, root growth and branching, lateral root primordia formation, and the expression of CYCB1, TOR kinase, and auxin and cytokinin-inducible trangenes in shoots and roots of Arabidopsis seedlings grown in Petri plates with agar-nutrient medium at pH values of 7.0, 7.5, 8.0, 8.5, and 9.0. The results showed an inverse correlation between the rise of pH and most growth, hormonal and genetic traits analyzed. Noteworthy, root inoculation with Achromobacter sp. 5B1, a beneficial rhizospheric bacterium, with plant growth promoting and salt tolerance features, increased biomass production, restored root growth and branching and enhanced auxin responses in WT seedlings and auxin-related mutants aux1-7 and eir1, indicating that stress adaptation operates independently of canonical auxin transporter proteins. Sequencing of the Achromobacter sp. 5B1 genome unveiled 5244 protein-coding genes, including genes possibly involved in auxin biosynthesis, quorum-sensing regulation and stress adaptation, which may account for its plant growth promotion attributes. These data highlight the critical role of rhizobacteria to increase plant resilience under high soil pH conditions potentially through genes for adaptation to an extreme environment and bacteria-plant communication.

Alkalinity of Lanzarote soils is a factor shaping rhizobial populations with Sinorhizobium meliloti being the predominant microsymbiont of Lotus lancerottensis

Lotus lancerottensis is an endemic species that grows widely throughout Lanzarote Island (Canary Is.). Characterization of 48 strains isolated from root nodules of plants growing in soils from eleven locations on the island showed that 38 isolates (79.1%) belonged to the species Sinorhizobium meliloti, whereas only six belonged to Mesorhizobium sp., the more common microsymbionts for the Lotus. Other genotypes containing only one isolate were classified as Pararhizobium sp., Sinorhizobium sp., Phyllobacterium sp. and Bradyrhizobium-like. Strains of S. meliloti were distributed along the island and, in most of the localities they were exclusive or major microsymbionts of L. lancerottensis. Phylogeny of the nodulation nodC gene placed the S. meliloti strains within symbiovar lancerottense and the mesorhizobial strains with the symbiovar loti. Although strains from both symbiovars produced effective N₂-fixing nodules, S. meliloti symbiovar lancerottense was clearly the predominant microsymbiont of L. lancerottensis. This fact correlated with the better adaptation of strains of this species to the alkaline soils of Lanzarote, as in vitro characterization showed that while the mesorhizobial strains were inhibited by alkaline pH, S. meliloti strains grew well at pH 9.

Lotus japonicus plants of the Gifu B-129 ecotype subjected to alkaline stress improve their Fe(2+) bio-availability through inoculation with Pantoea eucalypti M91

Inoculation assays with Pantoea eucalypti M91 were performed on Lotus japonicus ecotype Gifu. Under alkaline conditions, this ecotype is characterized by the development of interveinal chlorosis of the apical leaves due to low mobilization of Fe(2+). Inoculation with P. eucalypti M91, a plant growth-promoting bacterial strain capable of producing pyoverdine-like and pyochelin-like siderophores under alkaline growth conditions, alters the root, resulting in a herringbone pattern of root branching. Additional features include improvement in Fe(2+) transport to the shoots, acidification of the hydroponic solution of the plant cultures, and an accompanying increase in the efficiency of the PSII parameters. In addition, there was an increase in the expression of the FRO1 and IRT1 genes, accompanied by a significant increase in FRO activity. Results showed that P. eucalypti M91 has a beneficial effect on the Fe acquisition machinery of Strategy I, as described for non-graminaceous monocots and dicots, suggesting its potential as an inoculant for legume crops cultivated in alkaline soils.