Plants require nitrogen (N) to make proteins, nucleic acids and other biological molecules. It is widely accepted that plants absorb inorganic forms of N to fill their needs. However, recently it has become clear that plants also have the capacity to absorb organic N from soils. In this paper we describe a new kind of symbiosis involving seed-vectored rhizobacteria and grasses that is targeted at enhancing acquisition of organic N from soils. Our proposal is based on results of experiments on seedlings of grass species Festuca arundinacea Schreb., Lolium perenne L. and Poa annua L. that suggest: (i) seed-vectored rhizobacteria colonize seedling roots and influence their development; (ii) reactive oxygen secretion by seedling roots plays a role in organic N procurement by denaturing microbial proteins in the vicinity of roots (daytime activity); and (iii) plant root and microbial proteases degrade denatured proteins prior to absorption by roots (night-time activity). This research involved the following types of studies: (i) seedling root development experiments with and without rhizobacteria on a variety of substrates in agarose media and (ii) isotopic N-tracking experiments to evaluate the absorption into seedlings of N obtained from degradation of proteins. We hypothesize that grasses, in particular, are adapted to scavenge organic N from soils through application of this 'oxidative nitrogen scavenging' symbiosis with rhizobacteria, and their soil-permeating root systems. This newly discovered symbiosis in grass species could lead to new ways to cultivate and manage grasses to enhance efficiency of N utilization and reduce applications of inorganic fertilizers.
Keywords: Grasses; microbiome; nitrogen use efficiency; oxidative nitrogen scavenging; plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria; symbiosis.
Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Annals of Botany Company.