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Chemotactic rhizocompetence is strengthened by efficient adaptational methylation modification of the 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid chemoreceptor in Pseudomonas sp. UW4

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Abstract

Background and Aims

Intensifying chemotactic rhizocompetence is an effective approach to improving PGPR colonization in the plant rhizosphere and promoting plant growth. Whether increasing the efficient adaptational methylation modification of chemoreceptors enhances chemotactic rhizocompetence is unknown. Pseudomonas sp. UW4 is a typical PGPR, and 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid (ACC) is the strong chemoattractant that directs it to the rhizosphere.

Methods

The chemoreceptor pentapeptide involved in UW4 chemotaxis were identified through molecular docking and methylation reactions in vitro. The pentapeptide was identified as PEKPR residing in the C-terminus of the chemoreceptor Mcp14 and shows no sequence conservation with that of other bacteria. Two chemoreceptor mutants were constructed: in one, the pentapeptide was additionally grafted to the ACC chemoreceptor McpACC (UW4-1); in the other, the pentapeptide was transferred to McpACC (UW4-2).

Results

UW4-1 and UW4-2 showed unchanged chemotactic responses to arginine and succinic acid compared to UW4, whereas the chemotactic responses of UW4-1 to ACC were 36.0% and 17.2% higher than those of UW4 and UW4-2, respectively. Wheat rhizosphere colonization by UW4-1 in nonaxenic pot trials was 62.0% and 14.3% higher than rhizosphere colonization by UW4 and UW4-2, respectively, and the root and shoot dry weights of wheat inoculated with UW4-1 were 10.3% and 5.5% and 16.5% and 13.2% higher, respectively, than those of wheat inoculated with UW4 and UW4-2.

Conclusion

Grafting the pentapeptide to the chemoreceptor corresponding to the strong rhizosphere chemoattractant for PGPR increases PGPR chemotactic response to the strong rhizosphere chemoattractant, increases plant rhizosphere colonization, and leads to higher plant growth promotion.

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Data Availability

All data generated during this study are included in full in this paper and its supplementary information files.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by Science and Technology Department of Henan Province (202102110044, 222102110302), and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (32102455, 32200089).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Life Sciences, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou, 450046, China

    Ran Chai, Rui Li, Yafei Li, Tao Li, Yanan Li, Yuqian Gao & Liyou Qiu

  2. Key Laboratory of Enzyme Engineering of Agricultural Microbiology, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Zhengzhou, 450046, China

    Ran Chai, Rui Li, Yafei Li, Tao Li, Yanan Li, Yuqian Gao & Liyou Qiu

  3. School of Environmental Engineering, Yellow River Conservancy Technical Institute, Kaifeng, 475004, China

    Ran Chai

  4. College of Applied Engineering, Henan University of Science and Technology, 472000, Sanmenxia, China

    Tao Li

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Contributions

R.C., T.L. and L.Q. conceived and designed the experiments. R.C., R.L. Y.L. and T.L. conducted the experiments. R.C., T.L., Y.L. and Y.G. analyzed the data. R.C., T.L. and L.Q. wrote the paper. All authors approved the contents of the paper.

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Correspondence to Tao Li or Liyou Qiu.

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Chai, R., Li, R., Li, Y. et al. Chemotactic rhizocompetence is strengthened by efficient adaptational methylation modification of the 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid chemoreceptor in Pseudomonas sp. UW4. Plant Soil 494, 589–601 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-023-06304-z

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