Bacterial Volatiles Mediating Information Between Bacteria and Plants

Abstract

At present, more than 400 volatiles are known to appear in bacterial headspace samples, but more are expected as more bacteria will be investigated and several identification technologies will be applied. A comprehensive list of bacteria and their respective effects on plants were presented. The volatiles emitted from Serratia plymuthica HRO-C48 and Stenotrophomonas maltophilia R3089 retarded leaf and root development of Arabidopsis thaliana starting at day 2 of cocultivation, while first signs of activation of stress promoters appeared already after 18 h. Most A. thaliana ecotypes reacted similar to the volatiles of S. plymuthica, but a stronger root growth inhibition was observed for the accession C24. b-Phenyl-ethanol was identified as one compound of the S. plymuthica volatile mixture inhibiting the growth of Arabidopsis thaliana.