Protection of Arabidopsis thaliana against Leaf-Pathogenic Pseudomonas syringae by Sphingomonas Strains in a Controlled Model System

Diverse bacterial taxa live in association with plants without causing deleterious effects. Previous analyses of phyllosphere communities revealed the predominance of few bacterial genera on healthy dicotyl plants, provoking the question of whether these commensals play a particular role in plant protection. Here, we tested two of them, Methylobacterium and Sphingomonas, with respect to their ability to diminish disease symptom formation and the proliferation of the foliar plant pathogen Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato DC3000 on Arabidopsis thaliana. Plants were grown under gnotobiotic conditions in the absence or presence of the potential antagonists and then challenged with the pathogen. No effect of…

• ET
  Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich
• V
  Vontobel-Stiftung