Gram-positive rhizobacterium Bacillus amyloliquefaciens FZB42 colonizes three types of plants in different patterns

The colonization of three types of different plants, Zea mays, Arabidopsis thaliana, and Lemna minor, by GFP-labeled Gram-positive rhizobacterium Bacillus amyloliquefaciens FZB42 was studied in gnotobiotic systems using confocal laser scanning microscopy and electron microscopy. It was demonstrated that FZB42 was able to colonize all the plants. On one hand, similar to some Gram-negative rhizobacteria like Pseudomonas, FZB42 favored the areas such as the concavities in root surfaces and the junctions where lateral roots occurred from the primary roots; on the other hand, we clearly demonstrated that root hairs were a popular habitat to the Gram-positive rhizobacterium. FZB42 exhibited a specific colonization pattern on each of the three types of plants. On Arabidopsis, tips of primary roots were favored by FZB42 but not so on maize. On Lemna, FZB42 accumulated preferably along the grooves between epidermal cells of roots and in the concave spaces on ventral sides of fronds. The results suggested L. minor to be a promising tool for investigations on plant-microbial interaction due to a series of advantages it has. Colonization of maize and Arabidopsis roots by FZB42 was also studied in the soil system. Comparatively, higher amount of FZB42 inoculum (∼10(8) CFU/ml) was required for detectable root colonization in the soil system, where the preference of FZB42 cells to root hairs were also observed.