L. Chernin, B. Glick
2012
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0
Influential Citations
9
Citations
Quality indicators
Journal
Journal name not available for this finding
Abstract
The phytohormone ethylene is an important mediator of stress responses and plant growth and development. Many plant growth-promoting bacteria, including those that live in the rhizosphere (PGPB and PGPR, respectively), produce the enzyme 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate (ACC) deaminase which can cleave ACC, the immediate precursor of ethylene in plants, to α-ketobutyrate and ammonia, thereby lowering ethylene levels. These result in longer roots and less inhibition of ethylene-sensitive plant growth following environmental- or pathogen-induced stress. In this review, we have summarized and discussed the data demonstrating an additional important characteristic of ACC deaminase-producing PGPRs, which is the ability to serve as biocontrol agents of several bacterial and fungal plant pathogens. Therefore, ACC deaminase-containing bacteria may be viewed as general biocontrol agents of plant pathogens. Moreover, plants transformed with exogenous bacterial ACC deaminase genes are less susceptible to a range of diseases. Notwithstanding the promising results obtained so far, further research is needed to elucidate the detailed mechanisms used by beneficial plant-associated ACC deaminase-producing bacteria to facilitate biocontrol activity against plant pathogenic microorganisms.