Skip to main content
ISMPMI Congress 2025 Main banner
Icon Legend
This session is not in your schedule.
This session is in your schedule. Click again to remove it.

Poster

Session: Session 2 Presenting Authors at Posters (Evens)

P-348 - Impact of Community Composition on Bacterial VOCs Mediated Arabidopsis Growth-Promotion

Thursday, July 17, 2025
13:30 - 15:15  
Location: Confex Hall 3
Plant microbiota functions and intermicrobial interactions

    Presenting Author(s)

  • GT

    Gözde Merve Türksoy (she/her/hers)

    PhD Student
    University of Cologne
    Cologne, Germany, GERMANY

    • Author(s)

  • MB

    Miroslav Berka

    PhD student
    Mendel University Brno
    Brno, Jihomoravsky kraj, Czech Republic

  • KW

    Kathrin Wippel

    University of Amsterdam
    Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands

  • AK

    Anna Koprivova

    University of Cologne
    Köln, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany

  • RC

    Rejane Carron

    Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding
    Köln, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany

  • LR

    Lioba Rüger

    Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding
    Köln, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany

  • MC

    Martin Cerny

    Mendel Univserity in Brno
    Brno, Jihomoravsky kraj, Czech Republic

  • TA

    Tonni Andersen

    Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding
    Köln, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany

  • SK

    Stanislav Kopriva

    Group Leader/Prof. Dr.
    Botanical Institute, Cluster of Excellence on Plant Sciences (CEPLAS), University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
    Köln, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) serve as crucial infochemicals in plant-bacteria interactions. While most studies focused on VOCs emitted by single bacterial strains, community-emitted VOCs in modulating plant growth remain largely unknown. Here, we investigate how VOCs from a root-derived 16-member synthetic bacterial community influence Arabidopsis growth. We found that while VOCs from individual strains triggered diverse effects, VOCs from the entire community had a consistent impact on plant growth, beyond the sum of the individual members. Interestingly, removing key species altered the relative abundances of other strains and modified VOC composition, yet plant growth remained unaffected. We identified 135 VOCs, with dimethyldisulfide (DMDS) as the dominant compound. We also verified that DMDS, along with two other sulfur-containing VOCs, promoted plant growth. Moreover, we identified plant mutants unable to benefit from DMDS, thereby suggesting that this compound is assimilated into S-methylcysteine as part of its mechanism of action. Finally, we propose that bacterial VOCs serve as early signaling molecules, priming plants for interactions with bacterial communities and modulating colonization. Our findings, including metabolic changes in plant tissues and exudates, further support this. In summary, our research highlights the multifaceted roles of VOCs in plant-bacteria communication and the importance of community dynamics in harnessing their full potential.