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JXB Advance Access originally published online on October 16, 2006
Journal of Experimental Botany 2006 57(15):4025-4032; doi:10.1093/jxb/erl173
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© The Author [2006]. Published by Oxford University Press [on behalf of the Society for Experimental Biology]. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

RESEARCH PAPER

Molecular interaction between Methylobacterium extorquens and seedlings: growth promotion, methanol consumption, and localization of the methanol emission site

Daniel Abanda-Nkpwatt1 *, Martina Müsch2, Jochen Tschiersch2, Mewes Boettner3 and Wilfried Schwab1,{dagger}

1Biomolecular Food Technology, Technical University of Munich, Lise-Meitner-Str. 34, D-85354 Freising, Germany
2National Research Center for Environment and Health, Institute of Radiation Protection, Ingolstädter Landstr. 1, D-85764 Neuherberg, Germany
3OrganoBalance GmbH, Gustav-Meyer-Allee 25, D-13355 Berlin, Germany

{dagger} To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: schwab{at}wzw.tum.de

Four Methylobacterium extorquens strains were isolated from strawberry (Fragariaxananassa cv. Elsanta) leaves, and one strain, called ME4, was tested for its ability to promote the growth of various plant seedlings. Seedling weight and shoot length of Nicotiana tabacum, Lycopersicon esculentum, Sinapis alba, and Fragaria vesca increased significantly in the presence of the pink-pigmented facultative methylotroph (PPFM), but the germination behaviour of seeds from six other plants was not affected. The cell-free supernatant of the bacterial culture stimulated germination, suggesting the production of a growth-promoting agent by the methylotroph. Methanol emitted from N. tabacum seedlings, as determined by proton-transfer-reaction mass spectrometry (PTR-MS), ranged from 0.4 to 0.7 ppbv (parts per billion by volume), while significantly lower levels (0.005 to 0.01 ppbv) of the volatile alcohol were measured when the seedlings were co-cultivated with M. extorquens ME4, demonstrating the consumption of the gaseous methanol by the bacteria. Additionally, by using cells of the methylotrophic yeast Pichia pastoris transformed with the pPICHS/GFP vector harbouring a methanol-sensitive promoter in combination with the green fluorescence protein (GFP) reporter gene, stomata were identified as the main source of the methanol emission on tobacco cotyledons. Methylobacterium extorquens strains can nourish themselves using the methanol released by the stomata and release an agent promoting the growth of the seedlings of some crop plants.

Key words: Methanol, Methylobacterium extorquens, Nicotiana tabacum, Pichia pastoris, PTR-MS, stomata


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This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Appl. Environ. Microbiol.Home page
C. Knief, L. Frances, F. Cantet, and J. A. Vorholt
Cultivation-Independent Characterization of Methylobacterium Populations in the Plant Phyllosphere by Automated Ribosomal Intergenic Spacer Analysis
Appl. Envir. Microbiol., April 1, 2008; 74(7): 2218 - 2228.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


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