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An intact cytokinin-signaling pathway is required for Bacillus sp. LZR216-promoted plant growth and root system architecture altereation in Arabidopsis thaliana seedlings

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Abstract

Wide ranges of microorganisms found in rhizhosphere are able to regulate plant growth and development through production of phytohormones. However, little is known about the effects of these rhizobacteria on phytohormone cytokinin signal transduction in plants. We here found that Bacillus sp. LZR216 can promote growth and alter the root system architecture of Arabidopsis. To study the roles of cytokinin in this process, we used a series of cytokinin signaling mutants. We found that LZR216 inoculation exhibited little effects on the growth promotion and root development of the triple mutant ahp2,3,5. However, LZR216 promoted the growth and altered the root system architecture of single and double mutants of the cytokinin receptor. Furthermore, LZR216 treatment decreased the ARR5-GUS expression in the shoot apical meristem, but increased the expression in root tips. Transcript analysis indicated that LZR216 down-regulates the expressions of AHK3/AHK4, AHP1, and ARR4/5/7/10/12/15 in shoots, but up-regulates the expressions of AHK3/AHK4, AHP1/AHP3, and ARR4/5/7/10/12/15 in roots. Collectively, LZR216 plays different roles in cytokinin signaling between roots and shoots in Arabidopsis, and an intact cytokinin-signaling pathway is necessary for LZR216-promoted plant growth and root system architecture alteration.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31671595; 31670244), Foundation of Science and Technology Program of Gansu Province (1506RJZA209), The Agricultural Biotechnology Research and Application Development Program of Gansu Province (GNSW-2016-23), The Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (lzujbky-2015-ct01; lzujbky-2016-80), The Foundation of Science and Technology Program of Lanzhou City (2015-3-53), The Project of Qinghai Science & Technology Department (2016-ZJ-Y01), The Open Project of State Key Laboratory of Plateau Ecology and Agriculture, Qinghai University (201-KF-05). We thank Ping Li for her help and advice for data analysis during the preliminary stages of this project, and the two anonymous reviewers for reviewing the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Cell Activities and Stress Adaptations, Ministry of Education, School of Life Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, Gansu, 730000, People’s Republic of China

    Jianfeng Wang, Jie Jin, Xiaomin Wang, Rongrong Ma & Yurong Bi

  2. Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Agroecological Processing and Safety Monitoring, School of Life Sciences, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, 350002, People’s Republic of China

    Yongqiang Zhang

  3. Tibetan Medicine Research Center of Qinghai University, Qinghai University Tibetan Medical College, Xining, Qinghai, 810016, People’s Republic of China

    Qien Li & Chenzhou Zhao

  4. Chongqing Key Laboratory of Molecular Biology of Plant Environmental Adaptations, College of Life Sciences, Chongqing Normal University, Chongqing, 401331, People’s Republic of China

    Wenbin Nan

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  1. Jianfeng Wang
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Wang, J., Zhang, Y., Jin, J. et al. An intact cytokinin-signaling pathway is required for Bacillus sp. LZR216-promoted plant growth and root system architecture altereation in Arabidopsis thaliana seedlings. Plant Growth Regul 84, 507–518 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10725-017-0357-1

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