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Regulation of plasma membrane aquaporins by inoculation with a Bacillus megaterium strain in maize (Zea mays L.) plants under unstressed and salt-stressed conditions

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Abstract

It is documented that some plant-growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) enhance plant salt tolerance. However, as to how PGPR may influence two crucial components of plant salt tolerance such as, root hydraulic characteristics and aquaporin regulation has been almost unexplored. Here, maize (Zea mays L.) plants were inoculated with a Bacillus megaterium strain previously isolated from a degraded soil and characterized as PGPR. Inoculated plants were found to exhibit higher root hydraulic conductance (L) values under both unstressed and salt-stressed conditions. These higher L values in inoculated plants correlated with higher plasma membrane type two (PIP2) aquaporin amount in their roots under salt-stressed conditions. Also, ZmPIP1;1 protein amount under salt-stressed conditions was higher in inoculated leaves than in non-inoculated ones. Hence, the different regulation of PIP aquaporin expression and abundance by the inoculation with the B. megaterium strain could be one of the causes of the different salt response in terms of root growth, necrotic leaf area, leaf relative water content and L by the inoculation treatment.

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Abbreviations

L :

Root hydraulic conductance

PGPR:

Plant-growth-promoting rhizobacteria

PIP:

Plasma membrane aquaporins

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Acknowledgments

Authors thank Prof. M. Carvajal (Centro de Edafología y Biología Aplicada del Segura, CSIC, Murcia, Spain) for the analyses of plant mineral contents. Also, authors thank Mr. José Antonio Paz for his technical assistant during the experiments. F. Chaumont was supported by grants from the Belgian National Fund for Scientific Research (FNRS), the Interuniversity Attraction Poles Programme–Belgian Science Policy, and the “Communauté française de Belgique–Actions de Recherches Concertées”.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Microbiologia del Suelo y Sistemas Simbióticos, Estación Experimental del Zaidín (CSIC), Profesor Albareda 1, 18006, Granada, Spain

    Adriana Marulanda, Rosario Azcón, Juan Manuel Ruiz-Lozano & Ricardo Aroca

  2. Institute des Sciences de la Vie, Université Catholique de Louvain, Croix du Sud, 5-15, 1348, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium

    François Chaumont

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  1. Adriana Marulanda
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  2. Rosario Azcón
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  3. François Chaumont
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  4. Juan Manuel Ruiz-Lozano
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  5. Ricardo Aroca
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Correspondence to Ricardo Aroca.

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Marulanda, A., Azcón, R., Chaumont, F. et al. Regulation of plasma membrane aquaporins by inoculation with a Bacillus megaterium strain in maize (Zea mays L.) plants under unstressed and salt-stressed conditions. Planta 232, 533–543 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00425-010-1196-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00425-010-1196-8

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