Exploitable results Impact of small molecule mediated cell to cell communication on the efficacy of inoculant bacteria in the rhizosphere The rhizosphere environment surrounding the root systems of all plants has a major influence on the health and productivity of crops. The composition of the rhizosphere microbial population often differs greatly from that of the surrounding soil, as a result of diverse plant microbe interactions. Some of these interactions are encouraged, as in the case of nitrogen fixing or other plant growth promoting bacteria, to enhance crop productivity. Other interactions, such as attack by disease causing pathogenic bacteria, can result in crop damage and loss. In recent years, it has been recognized that bacteria can behave not only as individual cells but, under appropriate conditions and when their numbers reach a critical level, they can modify their behavior to act as a multicellular group. Bacteria secrete chemicals into the surrounding environment, and the concentration of the chemicals that accumulate is dependent on the population density. By detaching and reacting to these chemicals (N-acly homoserine lactones), individual cells can sense how many cells surround them, and whether there are enough bacteria to initiate the change towards acting in a multicellular fashion. This is known as quorum sensing. Characteristics essential to successful interaction between soil bacteria and plant roots are responsive to quorum sensing. The EU consortium on 'Rhizosphere Communication' is investigating the extent to which specific plant growth promoting bacteria use the quorum sensing to regulate physiological traits, such as production of antifungal metabolites. The signaling pathways identified so far involve a remarkably small number of regulatory genes. This simplicity will facilitate their exploitation in the development of improved agricultural strategies and bacteria strains for bioinoculant fertilizers and biocontrol agents. The rhizosphere environment surrounding the root systems of all plants has a major influence on the health and productivity of crops. The composition of the rhizosphere microbial population often differs greatly from that of the surrounding soil, as a result of diverse plant microbe interactions. Some of these interactions are encouraged, as in the case of nitrogen fixing or other plant growth promoting bacteria, to enhance crop productivity. Other interactions, such as attack by disease causing pathogenic bacteria, can result in crop damage and loss. In recent years, it has been recognized that bacteria can behave not only as individual cells but, under appropriate conditions and when their numbers reach a critical level, they can modify their behavior to act as a multicellular group. Bacteria secret chemicals into the surrounding environment, and the concentration of the chemicals that accumulate is dependant on the population density. By detaching and reacting to these chemicals (N-acly homoserine lactones), individual cells can sense how many cells surround them, and whether there are enough bacteria to initiate the change towards acting in a multicellular fashion. This is known as quorum sensing. Characteristics essential to successful interaction between soil bacteria and plant roots are responsive to quorum sensing. The EU consortium on 'Rhizosphere Communication' is investigating the extent to which specific plant growth promoting bacteria use the quorum sensing to regulate physiological traits, such as production of antifungal metabolites. The signaling pathways identified so far involve a remarkably small number of regulatory genes. This simplicity will facilitate their exploitation in the development of improved agricultural strategies and bacteria strains for bioinoculant fertilizers and biocontrol agents. The rhizosphere the environment surrounding the root systems of all plants has a major influence on the health and productivity of crops. The composition of the rhizosphere microbial population often differs greatly from that of the surrounding soil, as a result of diverse plant microbe interactions. Some of these interactions are encouraged, as in the case of nitrogen fixing or other plant growth promoting bacteria, to enhance crop productivity. Other interactions, such as attack by disease causing pathogenic bacteria, can result in crop damage and loss. In recent years, it has been recognized that bacteria can behave not only as individual cells but, under appropriate conditions and when their numbers reach a critical level, they can modify their behavior to act as a multicellular group. Bacteria secret chemicals into the surrounding environment, and the concentration of the chemicals that accumulate is dependant on the population density. By detaching and reacting to these chemicals (N-acly homoserine lactones), individual cells can sense how many cells surround them, and whether there are enough bacteria to initiate the change towards acting in a multicellular fashion. This is known as quorum sensing. Characteristics essential to successful interaction between soil bacteria and plant roots are responsive to quorum sensing. The EU consortium on 'Rhizosphere Communication' is investigating the extent to which specific plant growth promoting bacteria use the quorum sensing to regulate physiological traits, such as production of antifungal metabolites. The signaling pathways identified so far involve a remarkably small number of regulatory genes. This simplicity will facilitate their exploitation in the development of improved agricultural strategies and bacteria strains for bioinoculant fertilizers and biocontrol agents. Searching for OpenAIRE data... There was an error trying to search data from OpenAIRE No results available
