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Role of bacterial pyrroloquinoline quinone in phosphate solubilizing ability and in plant growth promotion on strain Serratia sp. S119

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Abstract

The aim of this study was to analyze if cofactor pyrroquinoline quinone from Serratia sp. S119 is involved in the inorganic phosphate solubilization mechanism and in its ability to promote the plant growth. Site directed mutagenesis was performed to obtain a pqqE- minus mutant of strain Serratia sp. S119. The phosphate solubilization ability, gluconate and PQQ production of the mutant Serratia sp. RSL (pqqE-) was analyzed. Mutant RSL (pqqE-) showed significant decrease in P soluble and gluconic acid levels produced and undetectable levels of PQQ cofactor compared with wild-type strain. Complementation with synthetic PQQ cofactor restored P solubilization and gluconate production reaching the levels produced by wild-type strain. PqqE gene sequence indicated that it is highly conserved within Serratia strains and its product shows conserved motifs found in other PqqE proteins of several bacteria. The effect of the inoculation of the PQQ- mutant on peanut and maize plants was evaluated in pot assays. Plants growth parameters showed no differences among the different treatments indicating that PQQ from Serratia sp. S119 is not involved in the growth promotion of these plants. PQQ cofactor is essential for phosphate solubilization ability of Serratia sp. S119 but is not required for growth promotion of peanut and maize plants.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Secretaría de Ciencia y Técnica de la Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto (SECYT-UNRC), CONICET, Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica (ANPCyT) and Fundación Maní Argentino. L.M.L., M.S.A. and M.P.M. are fellowships from CONICET, T.T., J.G.A., G.B., M.F.L. and A.F. are members of research career of CONICET, Argentina. The authors are grateful to Eugenia Castelli (PhD) and Eleonora García Véscovi (PhD) for site directed mutagenesis assistance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Ciencias Naturales, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físico-Químicas y Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto, Agencia Postal 3, 5800, Río Cuarto, Córdoba, Argentina

    Liliana Mercedes Ludueña, María Soledad Anzuay, Jorge Guillermo Angelini, Adriana Fabra & Tania Taurian

  2. Departamento de Microbiología, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físico-Químicas y Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Río Cuarto, Agencia Postal 3, 5800, Río Cuarto, Córdoba, Argentina

    Germán Barros & María del Pilar Monge

  3. Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Fermentaciones Industriales-CONICET, Universidad Nacional de la Plata, 1900, La Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    María Flavia Luna

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  1. Liliana Mercedes Ludueña
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Ludueña, L.M., Anzuay, M.S., Angelini, J.G. et al. Role of bacterial pyrroloquinoline quinone in phosphate solubilizing ability and in plant growth promotion on strain Serratia sp. S119. Symbiosis 72, 31–43 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13199-016-0434-7

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