According to the traditional view, establishment and maintenance of critical population densities in the rhizosphere was the premise of PGPR to exert growth-promoting effects. In light of the facts that soil bacterial community structures can be changed by some PGPR strains including Bacillus pumilus WP8, we hypothesize that regulation of soil bacterial community structure is one of the plant growth-promoting mechanisms of B. pumilus WP8, rather than depending on high-density cells in soil. In this study, denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (PCR-DGGE) was performed to evaluate the relationship between changes in soil bacterial community structure and growth-promoting effect on the seedling growth of fava beans (Vicia faba L.) during three successive cultivations. We found that B. pumilus WP8 lacks capacity to reproduce in large enough numbers to survive in bulk soil more than 40 days, yet the bacterial community structures were gradually influenced by inoculation of WP8, especially on dominant populations. Despite WP8 being short-lived, it confers the ability of steadily promoting fava bean seedling growth on soil during the whole growing period for at least 90 days. Pseudomonas chlororaphis RA6, another tested PGPR strain, exists in large numbers for at least 60 days but less than 90 days, whilst giving rise to slight influence on bacterial community structure. In addition, along with the extinction of RA6 cells in bulk soils, the effect of growth promotion disappeared simultaneously. Furthermore, the increment of soil catalase activity from WP8 treatment implied the ability to stimulate soil microbial activity, which may be the reason why the dominant population changed and increased as time passed. Our study suggests that regulation of treated soil bacterial community structure may be another possible action mechanism.

Two fructan hydrolases were previously reported to exist in Jerusalem artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus) and one native fructan-β-fructosidase (1-FEH) was purified to homogeneity by SDS-PAGE, but no corresponding cDNA was cloned. Here, we cloned two full-length 1-FEH cDNA sequences from Jerusalem artichoke, named Ht1-FEH I and Ht1-FEH II, which showed high levels of identity with chicory 1-FEH I and 1-FEH II. Functional characterization of the corresponding recombinant proteins in Pichia pastoris X-33 demonstrated that both Ht1-FEHs had high levels of hydrolase activity towards β(2,1)-linked fructans, but low or no activity towards β(2,6)-linked levan and sucrose. Like other plant FEHs, the activities of the recombinant Ht1-FEHs were greatly inhibited by sucrose. Real-time quantitative PCR analysis showed that Ht1-FEH I transcripts accumulated to high levels in the developing leaves and stems of artichoke, whereas the expression levels of Ht1-FEH II increased in tubers during tuber sprouting, which implies that the two Ht1-FEHs play different roles. The levels of both Ht1-FEH I and II transcript were significantly increased in the stems of NaCl-treated plants. NaCl treatment also induced transcription of both Ht1-FEHs in the tubers, while PEG treatments slightly inhibited the expression of Ht1-FEH II in tubers. Analysis of sugar-metabolizing enzyme activities and carbohydrate concentration via HPLC showed that the enzyme activities of 1-FEHs were increased but the fructose content was decreased under NaCl and PEG treatments. Given that FEH hydrolyzes fructan to yield Fru, we discuss possible explanations for the inconsistency between 1-FEH activity and fructan dynamics in artichokes subjected to abiotic stress.

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