Abstract
Plant hormones or phytohormones are historically classified into five major classes: auxins, cytokinins, gibberellins, abscisic acid and ethylene. Nowadays, many other phytohormones have been identified. Diverse microbial species possess the ability to produce phytohormones, with most data accumulated for the production and role of auxin. In this chapter the microbial biosynthesis, its regulation and the role of the different phytohormones in the interaction with the plant are discussed. Microbial phytohormonal production is a potent mechanism to alter plant physiology, leading to diverse outcomes from pathogenesis to promotion of plant growth. However, genetic evidence for the role of many phytohormones in microbe-plant interactions is still lacking, thus questioning the importance of the microbial production. Targeted approaches focusing on genetic evidence for the role of phytohormones together with plant experiments in an agronomic setting will allow unraveling the importance and potential of this fascinating microbial trait.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bömke C, Tudzynski B (2009) Diversity, regulation and evolution of the gibberellin biosynthetic pathway in fungi compared to plants and bacteria. Phytochemistry 70:1876–1893
Cassan F, Vanderleyden J, Spaepen S (2014) Physiological and agronomical aspects of phytohormone production by model plant-growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) belonging to the genus Azospirillum. J Plant Growth Regul 33:440–459
Davies PJ (2010) Plant hormones: Biosynthesis, signal transduction, action! Springer, Dordrecht
Frébort I, Kowalska M, Hluska T et al (2011) Evolution of cytokinin biosynthesis and degradation. J Exp Bot 62:2431–2452
Jameson P (2000) Cytokinins and auxins in plant-pathogens interactions—an overview. Plant Growth Regul 32:369–380
Lucangeli C, Bottini R (1997) Effects of Azospirillum spp. on endogenous gibberellin content and growth of maize (Zea mays L.) treated with uniconazole. Symbiosis 23:63–71
Manulis S, Haviv-Chesner A, Brandl MT et al (1998) Differential involvement of indole −3-acetic acid biosynthetic pathways in pathogenicity and epiphytic fitness of Erwinia herbicola pv. gypsophilae. Mol Plant Microbe Interact 11:634–642
Nambara E, Marion-Poll A (2005) Abscisic acid biosynthesis and catabolism. Annu Rev Plant Biol 56:165–185
Patten CJ, Blakney AJC, Coulson TJD (2013) Activity, distribution and function of indole −3-acetic acid biosynthetic pathways in bacteria. Crit Rev Microbiol 39:395–415
Pertry I, Vaclavikova K, Gemrotova M et al (2010) Rhodococcus fascians impacts plant development through the dynamic Fas-mediated production of a cytokinin mix. Mol Plant Microbe Interac 23:1164–1174
Pieterse CMJ, Van der Does D, Zamioudis C et al (2012) Hormonal modulation of plant immunity. Annu Rev Cell Develop Biol 28:489–521
Santner A, Calderon-Villalobos LIA, Estelle M (2009) Plant hormones are versatile chemical regulators of plant growth. Nat Chem Biol 5:301–307
Scott JC, Greenhut IV, Leveau JHJ (2013) Functional characterization of the bacterial iac genes for degradation of the plant hormone indole-3-acetic acid. J Chem Ecol 39:942–951
Spaepen S, Vanderleyden J (2011) Auxin and plant-microbe interactions. Cold Spring Harb Perspect Biol 3 pii: a001438
Spaepen S, Vanderleyden J, Remans R (2007) Indole-3-acetic acid in microbial and microorganism-plant signaling. FEMS Microbiol Rev 31:425–448
Tsavkelova EA, Klimova SY, Cherdyntseva TA et al (2006) Hormones and hormone-like substances of microorganisms: a review. Appl Biochem Microbiol 42:229–235
Vande Broek A, Gysegom P, Ona O et al (2005) Transcriptional analysis of the Azospirillum brasilense indole-3-pyruvate decarboxylase gene and identification of a cis-acting sequence involved in auxin responsive expression. Mol Plant Microbe Interact 18:311–323
Acknowledgements
Stijn Spaepen is a recipient of a postdoctoral fellowship grant from Research Foundation—Flanders (FWO-Vlaanderen). I wish to thank Jos Vanderleyden for fruitful discussions on this topic.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2015 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Spaepen, S. (2015). Plant Hormones Produced by Microbes. In: Lugtenberg, B. (eds) Principles of Plant-Microbe Interactions. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-08575-3_26
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-08575-3_26
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-08574-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-08575-3
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)