Root bacterial endophytes alter plant phenotype, but not physiology

Jeremiah A. Henning; David J. Weston; Dale A. Pelletier; Collin M. Timm; Sara S. Jawdy; Aimee Taylor Classen

doi:10.7717/peerj.2606

Root bacterial endophytes alter plant phenotype, but not physiology

Jeremiah A. Henning, David J. Weston, Dale A. Pelletier, Collin M. Timm, Sara S. Jawdy, Aimee Taylor Classen

20 Citations (Scopus)

63 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Plant traits, such as root and leaf area, influence how plants interact with their environment and the diverse microbiota living within plants can influence plant morphology and physiology. Here, we explored how three bacterial strains isolated from the Populus root microbiome, influenced plant phenotype. We chose three bacterial strains that differed in predicted metabolic capabilities, plant hormone production and metabolism, and secondary metabolite synthesis. We inoculated each bacterial strain on a single genotype of Populus trichocarpa and measured the response of plant growth related traits (root:shoot, biomass production, root and leaf growth rates) and physiological traits (chlorophyll content, net photosynthesis, net photosynthesis at saturating light-Asat, and saturating CO2-Amax). Overall, we found that bacterial root endophyte infection increased root growth rate up to 184% and leaf growth rate up to 137% relative to non-inoculated control plants, evidence that plants respond to bacteria by modifying morphology. However, endophyte inoculation had no influence on total plant biomass and photosynthetic traits (net photosynthesis, chlorophyll content). In sum, bacterial inoculation did not significantly increase plant carbon fixation and biomass, but their presence altered where and how carbon was being allocated in the plant host.

Original language	English
Article number	e2606
Journal	PeerJ
Volume	4
Number of pages	20
ISSN	2167-8359
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.2606
Publication status	Published - 2016

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Root bacterial endophytes alter plant phenotype, but not physiologyFinal published version, 1.59 MBLicence: CC BY

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title = "Root bacterial endophytes alter plant phenotype, but not physiology",

abstract = "Plant traits, such as root and leaf area, influence how plants interact with their environment and the diverse microbiota living within plants can influence plant morphology and physiology. Here, we explored how three bacterial strains isolated from the Populus root microbiome, influenced plant phenotype. We chose three bacterial strains that differed in predicted metabolic capabilities, plant hormone production and metabolism, and secondary metabolite synthesis. We inoculated each bacterial strain on a single genotype of Populus trichocarpa and measured the response of plant growth related traits (root:shoot, biomass production, root and leaf growth rates) and physiological traits (chlorophyll content, net photosynthesis, net photosynthesis at saturating light-Asat, and saturating CO2-Amax). Overall, we found that bacterial root endophyte infection increased root growth rate up to 184% and leaf growth rate up to 137% relative to non-inoculated control plants, evidence that plants respond to bacteria by modifying morphology. However, endophyte inoculation had no influence on total plant biomass and photosynthetic traits (net photosynthesis, chlorophyll content). In sum, bacterial inoculation did not significantly increase plant carbon fixation and biomass, but their presence altered where and how carbon was being allocated in the plant host.",

author = "Henning, {Jeremiah A.} and Weston, {David J.} and Pelletier, {Dale A.} and Timm, {Collin M.} and Jawdy, {Sara S.} and Classen, {Aimee Taylor}",

year = "2016",

doi = "10.7717/peerj.2606",

language = "English",

volume = "4",

journal = "PeerJ",

issn = "2167-8359",

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TY - JOUR

T1 - Root bacterial endophytes alter plant phenotype, but not physiology

AU - Henning, Jeremiah A.

AU - Weston, David J.

AU - Pelletier, Dale A.

AU - Timm, Collin M.

AU - Jawdy, Sara S.

AU - Classen, Aimee Taylor

PY - 2016

Y1 - 2016

N2 - Plant traits, such as root and leaf area, influence how plants interact with their environment and the diverse microbiota living within plants can influence plant morphology and physiology. Here, we explored how three bacterial strains isolated from the Populus root microbiome, influenced plant phenotype. We chose three bacterial strains that differed in predicted metabolic capabilities, plant hormone production and metabolism, and secondary metabolite synthesis. We inoculated each bacterial strain on a single genotype of Populus trichocarpa and measured the response of plant growth related traits (root:shoot, biomass production, root and leaf growth rates) and physiological traits (chlorophyll content, net photosynthesis, net photosynthesis at saturating light-Asat, and saturating CO2-Amax). Overall, we found that bacterial root endophyte infection increased root growth rate up to 184% and leaf growth rate up to 137% relative to non-inoculated control plants, evidence that plants respond to bacteria by modifying morphology. However, endophyte inoculation had no influence on total plant biomass and photosynthetic traits (net photosynthesis, chlorophyll content). In sum, bacterial inoculation did not significantly increase plant carbon fixation and biomass, but their presence altered where and how carbon was being allocated in the plant host.

AB - Plant traits, such as root and leaf area, influence how plants interact with their environment and the diverse microbiota living within plants can influence plant morphology and physiology. Here, we explored how three bacterial strains isolated from the Populus root microbiome, influenced plant phenotype. We chose three bacterial strains that differed in predicted metabolic capabilities, plant hormone production and metabolism, and secondary metabolite synthesis. We inoculated each bacterial strain on a single genotype of Populus trichocarpa and measured the response of plant growth related traits (root:shoot, biomass production, root and leaf growth rates) and physiological traits (chlorophyll content, net photosynthesis, net photosynthesis at saturating light-Asat, and saturating CO2-Amax). Overall, we found that bacterial root endophyte infection increased root growth rate up to 184% and leaf growth rate up to 137% relative to non-inoculated control plants, evidence that plants respond to bacteria by modifying morphology. However, endophyte inoculation had no influence on total plant biomass and photosynthetic traits (net photosynthesis, chlorophyll content). In sum, bacterial inoculation did not significantly increase plant carbon fixation and biomass, but their presence altered where and how carbon was being allocated in the plant host.

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DO - 10.7717/peerj.2606

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 27833797

SN - 2167-8359

VL - 4

JO - PeerJ

JF - PeerJ

M1 - e2606

ER -

Root bacterial endophytes alter plant phenotype, but not physiology

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