Türksoy Gözde Merve, Berka Miroslav, Wippel Kathrin, Koprivova Anna, Carron Réjane Audrey, Rüger Lioba, Černý Martin, Andersen Tonni Grube, Kopriva Stanislav
Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research, Carl-von-Linne-Weg 10, 50829 Cologne, Germany; Institute for Plant Sciences, Cluster of Excellence on Plant Sciences (CEPLAS), University of Cologne, Cologne 50674, Germany.
Department of Molecular Biology and Radiobiology, Faculty of AgriSciences, Mendel University in Brno, Brno, Czech Republic.
Plant Commun. 2025 Jun 9;6(6):101351. doi: 10.1016/j.xplc.2025.101351. Epub 2025 May 7.
Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) function as infochemicals and are important means of communication between bacteria and plants. Bacterial VOCs can promote plant growth and protect plants against both biotic and abiotic stresses. Most studies to date have focused on VOCs from single bacterial strains; consequently, very little is known about VOCs emitted by bacterial communities and their role in modulating plant phenotypes. In this work, we showed that VOCs from a root-derived 16-strain synthetic community affect Arabidopsis growth and root system architecture, whereas VOCs from individual strains produce a range of different effects. Removal of key species from the community changed the relative abundances of other strains and altered the VOC composition; however, the effect on plant growth remained the same. We therefore concluded that bacterial VOC-induced modulation of plant responses in the rhizosphere may be an emergent property of bacterial communities, rather than merely the sum of effects exerted by individual species. In total, we detected 135 different volatiles from individual strains, with dimethyl disulfide (DMDS) being the most abundant compound emitted by the community. Correlation analysis predicted several sulfur-containing compounds to promote plant growth, and revealed that exposure to two such VOCs, along with DMDS, leads to plant growth promotion. We also identified plant mutants unresponsive to DMDS, suggesting that its mechanism of action may involve assimilation into S-methylcysteine. Finally, we propose that the ecological role of VOCs is to provide early signaling alerts that prime plants for interaction with the bacterial community through modulation of root exudate composition and accumulation of defense compounds, thereby affecting the bacterial colonization of the plants.
挥发性有机化合物（VOCs）作为信息化学物质，是细菌与植物之间重要的交流手段。细菌VOCs可以促进植物生长，并保护植物免受生物和非生物胁迫。迄今为止，大多数研究都集中在单一细菌菌株产生的VOCs上；因此，对于细菌群落释放的VOCs及其在调节植物表型中的作用知之甚少。在这项工作中，我们发现来自根部来源的16菌株合成群落的VOCs会影响拟南芥的生长和根系结构，而来自单个菌株的VOCs则会产生一系列不同的影响。从群落中去除关键物种会改变其他菌株的相对丰度，并改变VOCs的组成；然而，对植物生长的影响仍然相同。因此，我们得出结论，细菌VOCs诱导的根际植物反应调节可能是细菌群落的一种涌现特性，而不仅仅是单个物种所产生影响的总和。我们总共从单个菌株中检测到135种不同的挥发性物质，二甲基二硫醚（DMDS）是群落中释放量最高的化合物。相关性分析预测了几种含硫化合物可促进植物生长，并表明暴露于两种此类VOCs以及DMDS会促进植物生长。我们还鉴定出了对DMDS无反应的植物突变体，这表明其作用机制可能涉及同化为S-甲基半胱氨酸。最后，我们提出VOCs的生态作用是提供早期信号警报，通过调节根系分泌物组成和防御化合物的积累，使植物为与细菌群落的相互作用做好准备，从而影响植物的细菌定殖。
