There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.
Abstract
One of the major mechanisms utilized by plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR)
to facilitate plant growth and development is the lowering of ethylene levels by deamination
of 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid (ACC) the immediate precursor of ethylene
in plants. The enzyme catalysing this reaction, ACC deaminase, hydrolyses ACC to alpha-ketobutyrate
and ammonia. Several bacterial strains that can utilize ACC as a sole source of nitrogen
have been isolated from rhizosphere soil samples. All of these strains are considered
to be PGPR based on the ability to promote canola seedling root elongation under gnotobiotic
conditions. The treatment of plant seeds or roots with these bacteria reduces the
amount of ACC in plants, thereby lowering the concentration of ethylene. Here, a rapid
procedure for the isolation of ACC deaminase-containing bacteria, a root elongation
assay for evaluating the effects of selected bacteria on root growth, and a method
of assessing bacterial ACC deaminase activity are described in detail. This should
allow researchers to readily isolate new PGPR strains adapted to specific environments.