This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Reprints and Permissions Copyright Information Books from ASM Press MicrobeWorld Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Demanèche, S. Articles by Simonet, P. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Demanèche, S. Articles by Simonet, P. Agricola Articles by Demanèche, S. Articles by Simonet, P.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, June 2001, p. 2617-2621, Vol. 67, No. 6
0099-2240/01/$04.00+0   DOI: 10.1128/AEM.67.6.2617-2621.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Natural Transformation of Pseudomonas fluorescens and Agrobacterium tumefaciens in Soil

Sandrine Demanèche, Elisabeth Kay, François Gourbière, and Pascal Simonet^*

Laboratoire d'Écologie Microbienne, UMR 5557, Université Lyon I, 69622 Villeurbanne Cedex, France

Received 12 October 2000/Accepted 7 March 2001

Little information is available concerning the occurrence of natural transformation of bacteria in soil, the frequency of such events, and the actual role of this process on bacterial evolution. This is because few bacteria are known to possess the genes required to develop competence and because the tested bacteria are unable to reach this physiological state in situ. In this study we found that two soil bacteria, Agrobacterium tumefaciens and Pseudomonas fluorescens, can undergo transformation in soil microcosms without any specific physical or chemical treatment. Moreover, P. fluorescens produced transformants in both sterile and nonsterile soil microcosms but failed to do so in the various in vitro conditions we tested. A. tumefaciens could be transformed in vitro and in sterile soil samples. These results indicate that the number of transformable bacteria could be higher than previously thought and that these bacteria could find the conditions necessary for uptake of extracellular DNA in soil.

---

^* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Laboratoire d'Écologie Microbienne, UMR 5557, Université Lyon I, 43 bd du 11 Novembre 1918, 69622 Villeurbanne cedex, France. Phone: 33 4 72 44 82 89. Fax: 33 4 72 43 12 23. E-mail: simonet{at}biomserv.univ-lyon1.fr.

---

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, June 2001, p. 2617-2621, Vol. 67, No. 6
0099-2240/01/$04.00+0   DOI: 10.1128/AEM.67.6.2617-2621.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Chee-Sanford, J. C., Mackie, R. I., Koike, S., Krapac, I. G., Lin, Y.-F., Yannarell, A. C., Maxwell, S., Aminov, R. I. (2009). Fate and Transport of Antibiotic Residues and Antibiotic Resistance Genes following Land Application of Manure Waste. J. Environ. Qual. 38: 1086-1108 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Maruyama, F., Tani, K., Kenzaka, T., Yamaguchi, N., Nasu, M. (2006). Quantitative Determination of Free-DNA Uptake in River Bacteria at the Single-Cell Level by In Situ Rolling-Circle Amplification. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 72: 6248-6256 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Goss, E. M., Kreitman, M., Bergelson, J. (2005). Genetic Diversity, Recombination and Cryptic Clades in Pseudomonas viridiflava Infecting Natural Populations of Arabidopsis thaliana. Genetics 169: 21-35 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Ceremonie, H., Buret, F., Simonet, P., Vogel, T. M. (2004). Isolation of Lightning-Competent Soil Bacteria. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 70: 6342-6346 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Wang, Y., Goodman, S. D., Redfield, R. J., Chen, C. (2002). Natural Transformation and DNA Uptake Signal Sequences in Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans. J. Bacteriol. 184: 3442-3449 [Abstract] [Full Text]