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Serratia odorifera: analysis of volatile emission and biological impact of volatile compounds on Arabidopsis thaliana

  • Applied Microbial and Cell Physiology
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Abstract

Bacteria emit a wealth of volatiles. The combination of coupled gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) and proton-transfer-reaction mass spectrometry (PTR-MS) analyses provided a most comprehensive profile of volatiles of the rhizobacterium Serratia odorifera 4Rx13. An array of compounds, highly dominated by sodorifen (approximately 50%), a bicyclic oligomethyl octadiene, could be detected. Other volatiles included components of the biogeochemical sulfur cycle such as dimethyl disulfide (DMDS), dimethyl trisulfide and methanethiol, terpenoids, 2-phenylethanol, and other aromatic compounds. The composition of the bouquet of S. odorifera did not change significantly during the different growth intervals. At the beginning of the stationary phase, 60 μg of volatiles per 24 h and 60 easily detectable components were released. Ammonia was also released by S. odorifera, while ethylene, nitric oxide (NO) and hydrogen cyanide (HCN) could not be detected. Dual culture assays proved that 20 μmol DMDS and 2.5 μmol ammonia, individually applied, represent the IC50 concentrations that cause negative effects on Arabidopsis thaliana.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the students Falko Lange and Carolin Westendorf for initial investigations. We thank Claudio Valverde (University of Quilmes, Argentina) for providing the Pseudomonas wildtype and mutant strain and Aleksandra Laska-Oberndorff for technical assistance during the experiments in Nijmegen. This project was financially supported by the EU-FP6-project-026183, Life Science Trace Gas Facility to FvH/SC and the DFG to BP (PI 153/26-1) and to WF (FR 507/19-1).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Rostock, Albert-Einstein-Str. 3, 18059, Rostock, Germany

    Marco Kai & Birgit Piechulla

  2. Life Science Trace Gas Facility, Radboud University Nijmegen, Heyendaalweg 135, 6525 AJ, Nijmegen, Netherlands

    Elena Crespo, Simona M. Cristescu & Frans J. M. Harren

  3. Institute of Organic Chemistry, University of Hamburg, Martin-Luther-King-Platz 6, 20146, Hamburg, Germany

    Wittko Francke

  4. Institute of Biological Sciences, University of Rostock, Albert-Einstein-Str. 3, 18059, Rostock, Germany

    Birgit Piechulla

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  1. Marco Kai
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  2. Elena Crespo
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  3. Simona M. Cristescu
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  4. Frans J. M. Harren
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Correspondence to Birgit Piechulla.

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Table 1

Compilation of all compounds emitted by S. odorifera 4Rx13 as distinctly recorded by GC/MS (PDF 56 kb)

Table 2

Compilation of all compounds emitted by S. odorifera 4Rx13 as analyzed by PTR-MS (PDF 30 kb)

Fig. 1

Temporal volatile emission profiles of S. odorifera during 96 h of growth. Masses are indicated in each panel, m33 = methanol, m47 = ethanol, m79 = (benzene?), m95 = dimethyl disulfide, m127 = dimethyltrisulfide, m137 = monoterpene hydrocarbons. Emission intensity (μg h−1) of two independent cultures are depicted (black lines), emission of medium without bacteria (gray lines), CFU are indicated by solid dots. n = 3 (PDF 350 kb)

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Kai, M., Crespo, E., Cristescu, S.M. et al. Serratia odorifera: analysis of volatile emission and biological impact of volatile compounds on Arabidopsis thaliana. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 88, 965–976 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-010-2810-1

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