In vitro symplasmata formation in the rice diazotrophic endophyte Pantoea agglomerans YS19

Pantoea (formerly Enterobacter) agglomerans YS19 is an endophytic diazotrophic bacterium isolated from rice (Oryza sativa cv. Yuefu) grown in temperate climatic regions in west Beijing (China). The bacterium forms aggregate structures called `symplasmata'. A symplasmatum is a multicellular aggregate structure in which several (at least two) to hundreds of individual cells tightly bind together. The studies on the symplasmata formation of YS19 showed that there were two growth stages for YS19, including the single cell stage existing before exponential growth phase and the symplasmata forming stage starting at the early stationary growth phase in liquid GY (glucose yeast extract) medium or at the end of the exponential growth phase in liquid LB (Luria-Bertani) medium. There was a correlation between symplasmata formation and bacterial growth phase. When the medium was acidified, the cell growth rate was affected by the low pH of the medium, but the time required for symplasmata formation was not influenced by it. YS19 also formed symplasmata on agar medium, where more symplasmata were formed than in liquid medium. The volume of individual constitutional cells of symplasmata was sharply decreased by more than a half in comparison with that of the single cells existing before symplasmata formation. On all the media tested, YS19 formed symplasmata in most of the cell growth phases. The genome DNA/DNA homology between P. agglomerans YS19 and type strain P. agglomerans JCM1236^T (ATCC27155^T) was determined as 90.1%, confirming its membership of P. agglomerans. In order to investigate the phylogenetic relationships of YS19 at the intraspecific, intrageneric and super-generic level, the 16S rDNA similarities between strain YS19 and 17 other strains of Pantoea and 4 representatives of the closely related genera were analyzed. All the strains of Pantoea were clustered into 5 groups, and YS19 was clustered in a unique branch. The 16S rDNA similarity between YS19 and type strain JCM1236^T was 93.9%, much lower than the generally accepted value (=97%) for members of the same species, indicating that the 16S rDNA of YS19 has a distinct molecular characteristic.     

成团泛菌YS19 symplasmata结构对菌体抵抗逆境的作用

成团泛菌（Pantoea agglomerans）YS19是从水稻“越富”品种中分离出的优势内生菌,其所形成的共质体（symplasmata）是一种与生物薄膜（biofilm）类似的多细胞聚集体结构,但细胞间联系比biofilm更加紧密。研究symplasmata结构对成团泛菌YS19抵抗逆境的贡献,有助于阐释内生菌与植物的相互作用的适应性。比较研究了symplasmata结构与散生菌体对于蔗糖渗透压冲击、重金属离子和干燥处理的抵抗能力差异,结果表明,与以散生状态存在的菌体相比,在面临逆境时形成symplasmata结构的菌体抗逆存活能力显著增强。     

Rice endophyte Pantoea agglomerans YS19 forms multicellular symplasmata via cell aggregation

Pantoea agglomerans is characterized by the formation of multicellular symplasmata. One unanswered question regarding this bacterium is how these structures are formed. In this study, the rice diazotrophic endophyte P. agglomerans YS19 was selected for exploration of this theme. YS19 was labeled with green fluorescent protein and the resulting recombinant YS19::gfp was observed to grow only slightly more slowly (a decrease of 5.5%) than the wild-type strain, and to show high GFP label stability (label loss rate 8.9218 x 10(-6) per generation, nearly reaching the generally accepted spontaneous mutation rate for most bacteria). YS19::gfp resembled the wild-type YS19 in symplasmata formation and growth profiles. Based on associated cultivation of both strains by mixing their individually cultivated single cells, symplasmata were formed and composed of both YS19::gfp and YS19, suggesting that YS19 formed symplasmata via aggregation, not proliferation, of the original single cells.     

水稻内生成团泛菌YS19与菠萝泛菌YJ76共培养提高环境胁迫生存适应性

成团泛菌(Pantoea agglomerans)YS19和菠萝泛菌(Pantoea ananatis)YJ76是从水稻(Oryza sativa)“越富”品种中分离得到的2株优势内生固氮细菌。利用YS19和YJ76共培养方式模拟菌体栖息微环境,探索潜在的种间生物效应,发现适量的YJ76能够促进YS19共质体的形成并且YJ76细胞可以参与到YS19的共质体结构中,YS19?YJ76接种量比例为10?3时促进效果最为显著。相比之下,当使用吲哚产量显著下降的YJ76突变株Δzwf与YS19共培养时,上述促进效应均显著减弱。与单独培养相比,共培养显著提高了两个菌株对重金属Zn²⁺、四环素、紫外线以及干燥的耐受能力,YS19分别提高了63.9%、56.0%、57.4%、72.0%,YJ76分别提高了147.9%、172.7%、266.3%、348.6%。结果表明水稻的两种主要内生菌YS19和YJ76在共栖息时表现为强烈的协同作用,而YJ76产生的吲哚信号分子在这个过程中起到重要调节作用。