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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Pullman, Washington » WHGQ » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #315566
Title: Impact of phenazine-producing pseudomonads upon Fe and Mn bioavailability in the rhizosphere of dryland wheat

Author
item LETOURNEAU, MELISSA - Washington State University
item Thomashow, Linda
item Weller, David
item HARSH, JIM - Washington State University

Submitted to: Soil Science Society of America Annual Meeting
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/20/2014
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Large populations of plant-growth-promoting Pseudomonas fluorescens strains producing up to 1 µg/g root of the redox-active antibiotic phenazine-1-carboxylic acid (PCA) have been discovered in dryland but not irrigated wheat fields throughout the low precipitation zone of the Columbia Plateau of the Pacific Northwest (1). In culture systems, PCA has been shown to reductively dissolve iron and manganese oxides (2) and to promote biofilm development via solubilization of Fe (3), but these effects have not been established in agroecosystems. Using a wild-type PCA-producing strain and an isogenic mutant impaired in PCA synthesis, we have developed growth chamber experiments to test the hypothesis that PCA-producing pseudomonads enhance the bioavailability of Fe and Mn in the rhizosphere of dryland wheat. Contrary to the initial hypothesis, comparisons of poorly-crystalline and total free Fe and Mn in mutant- and wild-type-inoculated rhizospheres suggest that mutant-inoculated roots take up more Fe than wild-type-inoculated roots. Additional soil and plant analyses to provide a mechanistic explanation for this unexpected result are underway.