Bacteria Genomes - PSEUDOMONAS FLUORESCENS
Pseudomonas fluorescens
is being researched as a biological control organism
Pseudomonas spp. are ubiquitous Gamma subclass of Proteobacteria that are inhabitants of a wide range of soil, water and plant surfaces. Many pseudomonas live in a commensal relationship with plants, utilising nutrients exuded from plant surfaces and surviving environmental stress by occupying protected sites provided by the plant's architecture. These commensal species can have profound effects on plants by suppressing pests, enhancing access to key nutrients, altering physiological processes or degrading environmental pollutants. Pseudomonas have an exceptional capacity to produce a wide variety of metabolites, including antibiotics that are toxic to plant pathogens.
P. fluorescens Pf-5 has the capacity to colonise plant surfaces, therefore, characteristics contributing to epiphytic fitness on plant surfaces, such as iron acquisition and stress tolerance, are common to both plant-commensal and plant-pathogenic bacteria. Pseudomonas spp. are known to use siderophores produced by other microorganisms as sources of iron, and this capacity contributes to their fitness in iron-limited environments.
P. fluorescens Pf-5 produces a range of antibiotics including pyrrolnitrin, pyoluteorin and 2,4-diacetylphloroglucinol. It also produces hydrogen cyanide and the siderophores pyochelin and pyoverdine, which can suppress target pathogens in the rhizosphere through iron competition.
The P. fluorescens Pf-5 genome is composed of one circular chromosome of 7,074,893 bp. The complete genome sequence of P. fluorescens Pf-5 provides a framework for future studies to understand the biological basis of biocontrol as an alternative to the use of chemical pesticides for control of insects of public health importance. P. fluorescens has been found to be lethal to larvae as well as pupae
of vector mosquitoes.
References:
http://www.sanger.ac.uk/Projects/P_fluorescens/
http://www.ncipm.org.in/Pseudomonos%20fluorescens.htm
http://www.nature.com/nbt/journal/v23/n7/full/nbt1110.html
http://icmr.nic.in/ijmr/2005/February/0206.pdf
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