Abd El-Daim IA, Bejai S, Meijer J.

Sci Rep. 2019 Nov 8; 9(1): Article number 16282. doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-52567-x.

Abstract

Abiotic stresses are main limiting factors for agricultural production around the world. Plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) have been shown to improve abiotic stress tolerance in several plants. However, the molecular and physiological changes connected with PGPR priming of stress management are poorly understood. The present investigation aimed to explore major metabolic and molecular changes connected with the ability of Bacillus velezensis 5113 to mediate abiotic stress tolerance in wheat. Seedlings treated with Bacillus were exposed to heat, cold/freezing or drought stress. Bacillus improved wheat survival in all stress conditions. SPAD readings showed higher chlorophyll content in 5113-treated stressed seedlings. Metabolite profiling using NMR and ESI-MS provided evidences for metabolic reprograming in 5113-treated seedlings and showed that several common stress metabolites were significantly accumulated in stressed wheat. Two-dimensional gel electrophoresis of wheat leaves resolved more than 300 proteins of which several were differentially expressed between different treatments and that cold stress had a stronger impact on the protein pattern compared to heat and drought. Peptides maps or sequences were used for database searches which identified several homologs. The present study suggests that 5113 treatment provides systemic effects that involve metabolic and regulatory functions supporting both growth and stress management.

See https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-52567-x

Figure 1:

Responses of 5113-treated wheat seedlings to heat stress (12 h 45°C), cold stress (12 h −5°C) and drought stress (7 days without water). (A) Survival % (calculated for 2 plant groups (20 plant each), (B) SPAD index and Kaplan Meier survival function for 5113-treated drought-stressed (C), cold-stressed (D) and heat-stressed wheat seedlings (E). Bars indicate standard deviation between 3 replicates (5 for SPAD index). Treatments labelled with identical letters are not significant at p < 0.05.