A novel mode of plant-rhizosphere interaction

2021 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19K05856
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 38040:Bioorganic chemistry-related
• Research Institution: Suntory Foundation for Life Sciences
• Principal Investigator: Murata Jun 公益財団法人サントリー生命科学財団, 生物有機科学研究所・統合生体分子機能研究部, 主席研究員 (90500794)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-04-01 – 2022-03-31
• Keywords: 植物間相互作用 / 根分泌物 / 根圏微生物 / 植物ー微生物相互作用

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We study a novel mode of plant-rhizosphere interaction in which plants communicate each other and induce resilience to the growth reduction triggered by bacterial volatiles. We call this activity as 'Resilience-Inducing Factor (RIF)', and tried to identify the chemical substances responsible for the activity. Followed by the establishment of a bioassay system co-culturing Arabidopsis and Bacillus spp., a multi-step fractionation of crude extracts obtained from Arabidopsis root was performed. Each fraction was subjected to the bioassay and RIF activity was evaluated by the growth of Arabidopsis plants. We obtained multiple active fractions, suggesting that RIF is likely composed of multiple chemical substances. LC-MS and GC-MS analyses have identified candidate compounds, two of which were analyzed further for the profiles of the fragment ion peaks.

Free Research Field

植物生化学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

植物と土壌微生物の相互作用に関する研究の多くが、植物１個体を観察対象にして微生物との相互作用に着目してきた。本研究によって、土壌微生物の作用を受けた植物の複数個体間において隣接個体の生長を支える新しい相互作用があること、同活性が根分泌物に含まれること、さらに同活性を示す候補化合物が絞られた。今後同活性化合物が同定されれば、植物の「群れ」として振る舞い・生存戦略を分子レベルで解明するための重要な知見となることが期待される。