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Research article2015Peer reviewedOpen access

Sfp-type PPTase inactivation promotes bacterial biofilm formation and ability to enhance wheat drought tolerance

Timmusk, Salme; seong-bin, Kim ; Nevo, Eviatar; Abd El-Daim, Islam Ahmed Moustafa; Ek, Bo; Bergquist, Jonas; Behers, Lawrence

Abstract

Paenibacillus polymyxa is a common soil bacterium with broad range of practical applications. An important group of secondary metabolites in P polymyxa are non-ribosomal peptide and polyketide derived metabolites (NRPs/PKs). Modular non-ribosomal peptide synthetases catalyze main steps in the biosynthesis of the complex secondary metabolites. Here we report on the inactivation of an A26 Sfp-type 4'-phosphopantetheinyl transferase (Sfp-type PPTase). The inactivation of the gene resulted in loss of NRPs/PKs production. In contrast to the former Bacillus spp. model the mutant strain compared to wild type showed greatly enhanced biofilm formation ability. A26 Delta sfp biofilm promotion is directly mediated by NRPs/PKs, as exogenous addition of the wild type metabolite extracts restores its biofilm formation level. Wheat inoculation with bacteria that had lost their Sfp-type PPTase gene resulted in two times higher plant survival and about three times increased biomass under severe drought stress compared to wild type. Challenges with P. polymyxa genetic manipulation are discussed.

Keywords

Sfp-type PPTase; Paenibacillus polymyxa; Evolution Canyon; rhizobacterial biofilm; plant drought tolerance; natural isolate genetic manipulation

Published in

Frontiers in Microbiology
2015, Volume: 6, article number: 387
Publisher: FRONTIERS MEDIA SA