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Piriformospora indica enhances phosphorus absorption by stimulating acid phosphatase activities and organic acid accumulation in Brassica napus

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Abstract

Aims

The root endophytic fungus Piriformospora indica (P. indica) colonizes the roots of a wide range of higher plants and promotes growth, disease resistance and stress tolerance of the hosts. We investigated the role of P. indica for phosphate (P) mobilization in soils enriched with different P sources and for P uptake into Brassicae napus (B. napus) plants.

Methods

Seedlings of B. napus colonized by P. indica were cultivated in pots with sterilized-sands supplied with Ca3 (PO4)2 [Ca3-P], AlPO4 [Al-P] or FePO4 [Fe-P]. The growth of the seedlings, P content, phosphatase activities, amount of organic acids, and expression of the genes BnACP5 for a phosphatase and BnPHt1;4 for a P transporter were investigated.

Results

Piriformospora indica promotes growth of B. napus and the accumulation of P in roots and shoots when P was supplied as Ca3-P, Al-P or Fe-P in the soil. The endophyte stimulated the P availability for the plant by higher phosphatase activities and higher expression of BnACP5 in roots exposed to soil with Ca3-P, Al-P or Fe-P as main P source. The amounts of oxalic, malic and citric acids increased in rhizosphere soil with P. indica colonized by B. napus seedlings. Thus, root-colonization by P. indica promotes the accumulation of organic acids in the rhizosphere. Stronger up-regulation of BnPht1;4 in colonized vs. non-colonized roots demonstrates the involvement of the fungus in counteracting P deficiency by promoting its uptake.

Conclusion

P. indica promotes the mobilization of P from inorganic sources and P uptake into the roots of B. napus. This is a combined effect of the stimulation of the P solubilizing phosphatase activity in the symbiotic interaction, the production of organic acids as well as the stimulation of the BnPht1;4 and BnACP5 genes under P limitation conditions.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 31471496) and Open Fund of Hubei Key Laboratory of Waterlogging Disaster and Agricultural Use of Wetland (No. KF201506). RO was supported by the CRC 1127.

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Author notes

  1. Meiyan Wu and Qiao Wei contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Hubei Key Laboratory of Waterlogging Disaster and Agricultural Use of Wetland / Hubei Collaborative Innovation Center for Grain Industry, Yangtze University, **zhou, 434025, China

    Meiyan Wu, Qiao Wei, Le Xu, Huizhi Li & Wenying Zhang

  2. Institute of General Botany and Plant Physiology, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, Jena, Germany

    Ralf Oelmüller

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  1. Meiyan Wu
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  2. Qiao Wei
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  3. Le Xu
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  4. Huizhi Li
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  5. Ralf Oelmüller
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  6. Wenying Zhang
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Correspondence to Ralf Oelmüller or Wenying Zhang.

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Responsible Editor: Anton Wasson.

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Wu, M., Wei, Q., Xu, L. et al. Piriformospora indica enhances phosphorus absorption by stimulating acid phosphatase activities and organic acid accumulation in Brassica napus. Plant Soil 432, 333–344 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-018-3795-2

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