Title: | Volatiles from soil-borne fungi affect directional growth of roots |
Author(s): | Moisan K; Raaijmakers JM; Dicke M; Lucas-Barbosa D; Cordovez V; |
Address: | "Laboratory of Entomology, Wageningen University and Research, Wageningen, The Netherlands. Department of Microbial Ecology, Netherlands Institute of Ecology, Wageningen, The Netherlands. Institute of Biology, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands" |
ISSN/ISBN: | 1365-3040 (Electronic) 0140-7791 (Print) 0140-7791 (Linking) |
Abstract: | "Volatiles play major roles in mediating ecological interactions between soil (micro)organisms and plants. It is well-established that microbial volatiles can increase root biomass and lateral root formation. To date, however, it is unknown whether microbial volatiles can affect directional root growth. Here, we present a novel method to study belowground volatile-mediated interactions. As proof-of-concept, we designed a root Y-tube olfactometer, and tested the effects of volatiles from four different soil-borne fungi on directional growth of Brassica rapa roots in soil. Subsequently, we compared the fungal volatile organic compounds (VOCs) previously profiled with Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS). Using our newly designed setup, we show that directional root growth in soil is differentially affected by fungal volatiles. Roots grew more frequently toward volatiles from the root pathogen Rhizoctonia solani, whereas volatiles from the other three saprophytic fungi did not impact directional root growth. GC-MS profiling showed that six VOCs were exclusively emitted by R. solani. These findings verify that this novel method is suitable to unravel the intriguing chemical cross-talk between roots and soil-borne fungi and its impact on root growth" |
Keywords: | Brassica rapa/*growth & development/metabolism Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry Plant Roots/*growth & development/metabolism *Soil Microbiology Volatile Organic Compounds/*metabolism Rhizoctonia solani chemotaxis fungal volatiles root attraction root; |
Notes: | "MedlineMoisan, Kay Raaijmakers, Jos M Dicke, Marcel Lucas-Barbosa, Dani Cordovez, Viviane eng 2020/10/01 Plant Cell Environ. 2021 Jan; 44(1):339-345. doi: 10.1111/pce.13890. Epub 2020 Sep 30" |