Abstract
Background and aims
Rhizobia typically produce a lower level of ACC deaminase compared with free-living plant growth-promoting bacteria. While the endogenous rhizobial ACC deaminase is important in legume nodulation, it is not sufficient to protect host plants against environmental stresses. The main goal of this study was to assess the effects of a genetically engineered Sinorhizobium meliloti strain overproducing ACC deaminase, and its symbiotic performance in Medicago lupulina under copper stress conditions.
Methods
The engineered strain was transformed with an exogenous acdS gene by triparental conjugation. A plant growth assay was conducted to assess its plant growth promotion ability under copper stress conditions. The expressions of antioxidant genes in these plants were analyzed using quantitative real-time PCR.
Results
Plants nodulated with the engineered strain showed a greater dry weight, a decreased ethylene level in roots, a higher total copper uptake but a lower level of copper translocation to aerial parts, as compared with the plants nodulated with the wild-type strain under copper stress conditions. These results were positively correlated with higher expression of antioxidant genes in the roots of these plants exposed to severe copper stress.
Conclusions
The engineered strain could improve plant growth as well as copper tolerance of M. lupulina, and enhance the antioxidant defense system.
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Acknowledgments
This work was supported by projects from the 863 Project of China (2012AA101402), National Science Foundation of China (31125007 and 31370142), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (2014YQ004).
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It is the original work of the authors. The work described has not been submitted elsewhere for publication, in whole or in part, and all authors listed carry out the data analysis and manuscript writing. This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors. Moreover, all authors have read and approved the final manuscript.
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Kong, Z., Glick, B.R., Duan, J. et al. Effects of 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate (ACC) deaminase-overproducing Sinorhizobium meliloti on plant growth and copper tolerance of Medicago lupulina . Plant Soil 391, 383–398 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-015-2434-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-015-2434-4