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Volatile Organic Compound Mediated Interactions at the Plant-Microbe Interface

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Abstract

Microorganisms colonize the surfaces of plant roots, leaves, and flowers known as the rhizosphere, phyllosphere, and anthosphere. These spheres differ largely in a number of factors that may determine the ability of microbes to establish themselves and to grow in these habitats. In this article, we focus on volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted by plants, and we discuss their effects on microbial colonizers, with an emphasis on bacteria. We present examples of how growth-inhibiting properties and mechanisms of VOCs such as terpenoids, benzenoid compounds, aliphatics, and sulfur containing compounds prevent bacterial colonization at different spheres, in antagonism with their role as carbon-sources that support the growth of different bacterial taxa. The notion that VOCs represent important factors that define bacterial niches is further supported by results for representatives of two bacterial genera that occupy strongly diverging niches based on scent emissions of different plant species and organs. Bacteria are known to either positively or negatively affect plant fitness and to interfere with plant-animal interactions. Thus, bacteria and other microbes may select for VOCs, enabling plants to control microbial colonizers on their surfaces, thereby promoting the growth of mutualists and preventing the establishment of detrimental microbes.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Maren Höfers for help with Fig. 1 and Afroditi Kantsa for valuable comments on the manuscript. Research by R.R.J. on bacterial communities on petals and leaves was funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (BL960/1-1). Work by D.T. was supported by a National Science Foundation Advance Virginia Tech research and development grant, National Science Foundation Grant MCB-0950865, Thomas and Kate Jeffress Memorial Trust Grant J-850, and a US Department of Agriculture Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service National Research Initiative Grant 2007-35318-18384 (to D.T.).

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  1. Department of Organismic Biology, University Salzburg, Hellbrunnerstrasse 34, 5020, Salzburg, Austria

    Robert R. Junker

  2. Department of Biological Sciences, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, 24061, USA

    Dorothea Tholl

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  1. Robert R. Junker
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Correspondence to Dorothea Tholl.

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Robert R. Junker and Dorothea Tholl contributed equally to the manuscript.

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Junker, R.R., Tholl, D. Volatile Organic Compound Mediated Interactions at the Plant-Microbe Interface. J Chem Ecol 39, 810–825 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10886-013-0325-9

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