Chemotaxis of fluorescent Pseudomonas spp. to soybean seed exudates in vitro and in soil

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Abstract
Five seed-colonizing fluorescent Pseudomonas strains (RW1 to RW5) exhibited chemotaxis toward soybean seed exudates in 1-μL capillaries held for 30 min in an 8.0 log colony-forming units/mL bacterial suspension over the temperature range of 9 to 41 °C. Dialysis (6000 molecular weight cut-off) of exudate nullified its attractiveness to RW1; heating (121 °C, 15 min) of exudate had no effect. Several amino acids present in exudate induced a chemotactic response by RW1, and asparagine, threonine, and valine at levels in exudate were as attractive as exudate. No chemotaxis by RW1 was observed toward sugars present in exudate. RW1 to RW5 actively migrated 1 cm toward soybean seeds in soil as demonstrated by a new method. A nonmotile mutant of RW3 did not migrate in soil and no significant migration by strains was observed when no seed or exudate was present. It is suggested that chemotaxis of Pseudomonas toward seed exudates may be the first step in establishment of bacterial seed and root colonization in soil.