title: Pseudomonas fluorescens PICF7 displays an endophytic lifestyle in cultivated cereals and enhances yield in barley.
abstract: Pseudomonas fluorescens PICF7, an indigenous inhabitant of olive roots, displays an endophytic lifestyle in this woody crop and exerts biocontrol against the fungal phytopathogen Verticillium dahliae Here we report microscopy evidence that the strain PICF7 is also able to colonize and persist on or in wheat and barley root tissues. Root colonization of both cereal species followed a similar pattern to that previously reported in olive, including inner colonization of the root hairs. This demonstrates that strain PICF7 can colonize root systems of distant botanical species. Barley plants germinated from PICF7-treated seeds showed enhanced vegetative growth. Moreover, significant increases in the number of grains (up to 19.5%) and grain weight (up to 20.5%) per plant were scored in this species. In contrast, growth and yield were not significantly affected in wheat plants by the presence of PICF7. Proteomics analysis of the root systems revealed that different proteins were exclusively found depending on the presence or absence of PICF7 and only one protein with hydrogen ion transmembrane transporter activity was exclusively found in both PICF7-inoculated barley and wheat plants but not in the controls.
authors.affiliation: Departments of Crop Protection, Institute for Sustainable Agriculture, Agencia Estatal Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Avda Menéndez Pidal s/n, Campus Alameda del Obispo s/n, E-14004 Córdoba, Spain.
authors.forename: Jesús
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mercado-Blanco
authors.affiliation: Plant Breeding, Institute for Sustainable Agriculture, Agencia Estatal Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Avda Menéndez Pidal s/n, Campus Alameda del Obispo s/n, E-14004 Córdoba, Spain.
authors.forename: Enriqueta
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Alós
authors.affiliation: Plant Breeding, Institute for Sustainable Agriculture, Agencia Estatal Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Avda Menéndez Pidal s/n, Campus Alameda del Obispo s/n, E-14004 Córdoba, Spain.
authors.forename: María Dolores
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Rey
authors.affiliation: Plant Breeding, Institute for Sustainable Agriculture, Agencia Estatal Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Avda Menéndez Pidal s/n, Campus Alameda del Obispo s/n, E-14004 Córdoba, Spain pilar.prieto@ias.csic.es.
authors.forename: Pilar
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Prieto
mesh_terms: D000383:Agriculture; D002523:Edible Grain / Q000382:microbiology*; D001467:Hordeum / Q000254:growth & development / Q000382:microbiology*; D008019:Life Style; D031658:Olea / Q000382:microbiology; D018517:Plant Roots / Q000382:microbiology; D011551:Pseudomonas fluorescens / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology*; D014908:Triticum
keywords: confocal laser scanning microscopy; olive; plant-growth promotion; proteomics; root colonization; wheat