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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, August 2006, p. 5421-5427, Vol. 72, No. 8
0099-2240/06/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.02928-05
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Peptidoglycan from Bacillus cereus Mediates Commensalism with Rhizosphere Bacteria from the Cytophaga-Flavobacterium Group

Snow Brook Peterson,^1,2 Anne K. Dunn,^1,3, Amy K. Klimowicz,¹ and Jo Handelsman^1*

Department of Plant Pathology,,¹ Microbiology Doctoral Training Program,,² Department of Bacteriology, University of Wisconsin—Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53706³

Received 12 December 2005/ Accepted 24 May 2006

Previous research in our laboratory revealed that the introduction of Bacillus cereus UW85 can increase the populations of bacteria from the Cytophaga-Flavobacterium (CF) group of the Bacteroidetes phylum in the soybean rhizosphere, suggesting that these rhizosphere microorganisms have a beneficial relationship (G. S. Gilbert, J. L. Parke, M. K. Clayton, and J. Handelsman, Ecology 74:840-854, 1993). In the present study, we determined the frequency at which CF bacteria coisolated with B. cereus strains from the soybean rhizosphere and the mechanism by which B. cereus stimulates the growth of CF rhizosphere strains in root exudate media. In three consecutive years of sampling, CF strains predominated among coisolates obtained with B. cereus isolates from field-grown soybean roots. In root exudate media, the presence of B. cereus was required for CF coisolate strains to reach high population density. However, rhizosphere isolates from the phylum Proteobacteria grew equally well in the presence and absence of B. cereus, and the presence of CF coisolates did not affect the growth of B. cereus. Peptidoglycan isolated from B. cereus cultures stimulated growth of the CF rhizosphere bacterium Flavobacterium johnsoniae, although culture supernatant from B. cereus grown in root exudate media did not. These results suggest B. cereus and CF rhizosphere bacteria have a commensal relationship in which peptidoglycan produced by B. cereus stimulates the growth of CF bacteria.

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* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Plant Pathology, University of Wisconsin—Madison, 1630 Linden Dr., Madison, WI 53706. Phone: (608) 263-8783. Fax: (608) 265-5289. E-mail: joh{at}plantpath.wisc.edu.

Present address: Department of Microbiology, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia.

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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, August 2006, p. 5421-5427, Vol. 72, No. 8
0099-2240/06/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.02928-05
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

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