Streptomyces alleviate abiotic stress in plant by producing pteridic acids

Abstract

Soil microbiota can confer fitness advantages to plants and increase crop resilience to drought and other abiotic stressors. However, there is little evidence on the mechanisms correlating a microbial trait with plant abiotic stress tolerance. Here, we report that Streptomyces effectively alleviate drought and salinity stress by producing spiroketal polyketide pteridic acid H (1) and its isomer F (2), both of which promote root growth in Arabidopsis at a concentration of 1.3 nM under abiotic stress. Transcriptomics profiles show increased expression of multiple stress responsive genes in Arabidopsis seedlings after pteridic acids treatment. We confirm in vivo a bifunctional biosynthetic gene cluster for pteridic acids and antimicrobial elaiophylin production. We propose it is mainly disseminated by vertical transmission and is geographically distributed in various environments. This discovery reveals a perspective for understanding plant-Streptomyces interactions and provides a promising approach for utilising beneficial Streptomyces and their secondary metabolites in agriculture to mitigate the detrimental effects of climate change.

Published in

Nature Communications
2023, volume: 14, number: 1, article number: 7398

SLU Authors

• Konakalla, Ruparamadurga Naga Charan

  • Department of Plant Breeding, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Andreasson, Erik

  • Department of Plant Protection Biology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

Associated SLU-program

SLU Plant Protection Network

UKÄ Subject classification

Agricultural Science

Publication identifier

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-43177-3

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/127256