International audienceThe rhizosphere is a complex environment where roots interact with physical, chemical and biological properties of soil. Structural and functional characteristics of roots contribute to rhizosphere processes and both have significant influence on the capacity of roots to acquire nutrients. Roots also interact extensively with soil microorganisms which further impact on plant nutrition either directly, by influencing nutrient availability and uptake, or indirectly through plant (root) growth promotion. In this paper, features of the rhizosphere that are important for nutrient acquisition from soil are reviewed, with specific emphasis on the characteristics of roots that influence the availability and uptake of phosphorus and nitrogen. The interaction of roots with soil microorganisms, in particular with mycorrhizal fungi and non-symbiotic plant growth promoting rhizobacteria, is also considered in relation to nutrient availability and through the mechanisms that are associated with plant growth promotion

The rhizosphere supports the development and activity of a huge and diversified microbial community, including microorganisms capable to promote plant growth. Among the latter, plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) colonize roots of monocots and dicots, and enhance plant growth by direct and indirect mechanisms. Modification of root system architecture by PGPR implicates the production of phytohormones and other signals that lead, mostly, to enhanced lateral root branching and development of root hairs. PGPR also modify root functioning, improve plant nutrition and influence the physiology of the whole plant. Recent results provided first clues as to how PGPR signals could trigger these plant responses. Whether local and/or systemic, the plant molecular pathways involved remain often unknown. From an ecological point of view, it emerged that PGPR form coherent functional groups, whose rhizosphere ecology is influenced by a myriad of abiotic and biotic factors in natural and agricultural soils, and these factors can in turn modulate PGPR effects on roots. In this paper, we address novel knowledge and gaps on PGPR modes of action and signals, and highlight recent progress on the links between plant morphological and physiological effects induced by PGPR. We also show the importance of taking into account the size, diversity, and gene expression patterns of PGPR assemblages in the rhizosphere to better understand their impact on plant growth and functioning. Integrating mechanistic and ecological knowledge on PGPR populations in soil will be a prerequisite to develop novel management strategies for sustainable agriculture.

This work was performed to establish a model describing bacterial surface structures involved in biofilm development, in curli-overproducing Escherichia coli K-12 strains, at 30 degrees C, and in minimal growth medium. Using a genetic approach, in association with observations of sessile communities by light and electron microscopic techniques, the role of protein surface structures, such as flagella and curli, and saccharidic surface components, such as the E. coli exopolysaccharide, colanic acid, was determined. We show that, in the context of adherent ompR234 strains, (i) flagellar motility is not required for initial adhesion and biofilm development; (ii) both primary adhesion to inert surfaces and development of multilayered cell clusters require curli synthesis; (iii) curli display direct interactions with the substratum and form interbacterial bundles, allowing a cohesive and stable association of cells; and (iv) colanic acid does not appear critical for bacterial adhesion and further biofilm development but contributes to the biofilm architecture and allows for the formation of voluminous biofilms.

The Escherichia coli OmpR/EnvZ two-component regulatory system, which senses environmental osmolarity, also regulates biofilm formation. Up mutations in the ompR gene, such as the ompR234 mutation, stimulate laboratory strains of E. coli to grow as a biofilm community rather than in a planktonic state. In this report, we show that the OmpR234 protein promotes biofilm formation by binding the csgD promoter region and stimulating its transcription. The csgD gene encodes the transcription regulator CsgD, which in turn activates transcription of the csgBA operon encoding curli, extracellular structures involved in bacterial adhesion. Consistent with the role of the ompR gene as part of an osmolarity-sensing regulatory system, we also show that the formation of biofilm by E. coli is inhibited by increasing osmolarity in the growth medium. The ompR234 mutation counteracts adhesion inhibition by high medium osmolarity; we provide evidence that the ompR234 mutation promotes biofilm formation by strongly increasing the initial adhesion of bacteria to an abiotic surface. This increase in initial adhesion is stationary phase dependent, but it is negatively regulated by the stationary-phase-specific sigma factor RpoS. We propose that this negative regulation takes place via rpoSdependent transcription of the transcription regulator cpxR; cpxR-mediated repression of csgB and csgD promoters is also triggered by osmolarity and by curli overproduction, in a feedback regulation loop.

Classical laboratory strains of Escherichia coli do not spontaneously colonize inert surfaces. However, when maintained in continuous culture for evolution studies or industrial processes, these strains usually generate adherent mutants which form a thick biofilm, visible with the naked eye, on the wall of the culture apparatus. Such a mutant was isolated to identify the genes and morphological structures involved in biofilm formation in the very well characterizedE. coli K-12 context. This mutant acquired the ability to colonize hydrophilic (glass) and hydrophobic (polystyrene) surfaces and to form aggregation clumps. A single point mutation, resulting in the replacement of a leucine by an arginine residue at position 43 in the regulatory protein OmpR, was responsible for this phenotype. Observations by electron microscopy revealed the presence at the surfaces of the mutant bacteria of fibrillar structures looking like the particular fimbriae described by the Olsén group and designated curli (A. Olsén, A. Jonsson, and S. Normark, Nature 338:652–655, 1989). The production of curli (visualized by Congo red binding) and the expression of the csgA gene encoding curlin synthesis (monitored by coupling a reporter gene to its promoter) were significantly increased in the presence of theompR allele described in this work. Transduction of knockout mutations in either csgA or ompRcaused the loss of the adherence properties of several biofilm-formingE. coli strains, including all those which were isolated in this work from the wall of a continuous culture apparatus and two clinical strains isolated from patients with catheter-related infections. These results indicate that curli are morphological structures of major importance for inert surface colonization and biofilm formation and demonstrate that their synthesis is under the control of the EnvZ-OmpR two-component regulatory system.

To get further information on bacterial surface sensing and biofilm-dependent regulation of gene expression in Escherichia coli K-12, random insertion mutagenesis with Mu dX, a mini-Mu carrying the promoterless lacZ gene, was performed with anompR234 adherent strain, and a simple screen was developed to assess changes in gene expression in biofilm cells versus planktonic cells. This screen revealed that major changes in the pattern of gene expression occur during biofilm development: the transcription of 38% of the genes was affected within biofilms. Different cell functions were more expressed in sessile bacteria: the OmpC porin, the high-affinity transport system of glycine betaine (encoded by theproU operon), the colanic acid exopolysaccharide (wca locus, formerly called cps), tripeptidase T (pepT), and the nickel high-affinity transport system (nikA). On the other hand, the syntheses of flagellin (fliC) and of a putative protein of 92 amino acids (f92) were both reduced in biofilms. Such a genetic reprogramming of gene expression in biofilms seems to result from changes in multiple environmental physicochemical conditions. In this work, we show that bacteria within biofilms encounter higher-osmolarity conditions, greater oxygen limitation, and higher cell density than in the liquid phase.

The positive effects of root-colonizing bacteria cooperating with plants lead to improved growth and/or health of their eukaryotic hosts. Some of these Plant Growth-Promoting Rhizobacteria (PGPR) display several plant-beneficial properties, suggesting that the accumulation of the corresponding genes could have been selected in these bacteria. Here, this issue was targeted using 23 genes contributing directly or indirectly to established PGPR effects, based on genome sequence analysis of 304 contrasted Alpha- Beta- and Gammaproteobacteria. Most of the 23 genes studied were also found in non-PGPR Proteobacteria and none of them were common to all 25 PGPR genomes studied. However, ancestral character reconstruction indicated that gene transfers -predominantly ancient- resulted in characteristic gene combinations according to taxonomic subgroups of PGPR strains. This suggests that the PGPR-plant cooperation could have established separately in various taxa, yielding PGPR strains that use different gene assortments. The number of genes contributing to plant-beneficial functions increased along the continuum -animal pathogens, phytopathogens, saprophytes, endophytes/symbionts, PGPR- indicating that the accumulation of these genes (and possibly of different plant-beneficial traits) might be an intrinsic PGPR feature. This work uncovered preferential associations occurring between certain genes contributing to phytobeneficial traits and provides new insights into the emergence of PGPR bacteria.

Fossil records indicate that life appeared in marine environments ∼3.5 billion years ago (Gyr) and transitioned to terrestrial ecosystems nearly 2.5 Gyr. Sequence analysis suggests that “hydrobacteria” and “terrabacteria” might have diverged as early as 3 Gyr. Bacteria of the genus Azospirillum are associated with roots of terrestrial plants; however, virtually all their close relatives are aquatic. We obtained genome sequences of two Azospirillum species and analyzed their gene origins. While most Azospirillum house-keeping genes have orthologs in its close aquatic relatives, this lineage has obtained nearly half of its genome from terrestrial organisms. The majority of genes encoding functions critical for association with plants are among horizontally transferred genes. Our results show that transition of some aquatic bacteria to terrestrial habitats occurred much later than the suggested initial divergence of hydro- and terrabacterial clades. The birth of the genus Azospirillum approximately coincided with the emergence of vascular plants on land.