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JXB Advance Access published online on October 16, 2006
Journal of Experimental Botany, 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
Received June 27, 2006
Accepted August 29, 2006

RESEARCH PAPER

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

Daniel Abanda-Nkpwatt 1, Martina Müsch 2, Jochen Tschiersch 2, Mewes Boettner 3, and Wilfried Schwab 1 *

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

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
Wilfried Schwab, E-mail: schwab{at}wzw.tum.de


  Abstract

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.

Keywords: Methanol; Methylobacterium extorquens; Nicotiana tabacum; Pichia pastoris; PTR-MS; stomata.
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