Wave-like Distribution Patterns of Gfp-marked Pseudomonas fluorescens Along Roots of Wheat Plants Grown in Two Soils

Abstract

Culturable rhizosphere bacterial communities had been shown to exhibit wave-like distribution patterns along wheat roots. In the current work we show, for the first time, significant wave-like oscillations of an individual bacterial strain, the biocontrol agent Pseudomonas fluorescens 32 marked with gfp, along 3-week-old wheat roots in a conventionally managed and an organically managed soil. Significant wave-like fluctuations were observed for colony forming units (CFUs) on selective media and direct fluorescent counts under the microscope. Densities of fluorescent cells and of CFUs fluctuated in a similar manner along wheat roots in the conventional soil. The frequencies of the first, second, and third harmonics were similar for direct cell counts and CFUs. Survival of P. fluorescens 32-gfp introduced into organically managed soil was lower than that of the same strain added to conventionally managed soil. Thus, when root tips reached a depth of 10–35 cm below soil level, the majority of the introduced cells may have died, so that no cells or CFU”s were detected in this region at the time of sampling. As a result, significant waves in CFUs or direct counts along roots were not found in organically managed soil, except when a sufficiently long series with detectable CFUs were obtained. In this last case the wave-like fluctuation in CFUs was damped toward the root tip. In conclusion, when cells of a single bacterial strain randomly mixed in soil survived until a root tip passed, growth and death cycles after passage of the root tip resulted in oscillating patterns of population densities of this strain along 3-week-old wheat roots.