Effect of high temperature on Pseudomonas putida NBRI0987 biofilm formation and expression of stress sigma factor RpoS

Pseudomonas is an efficient plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria; however, among the limiting factors for its commercialization, tolerance for high temperature is the most critical one. After screening 2,500 Pseudomnas sp. strains, a high temperature tolerant-strain Pseudomonas putida NBRI0987 was isolated from the drought-exposed rhizosphere of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L. cv. Radhey), which was grown under rain-fed conditions. P. putida NBRI0987 tolerated a temperature of 40 degrees C for <= 5 days. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of a Pseudomnas sp. demonstrating survival estimated by counting viable cells under such a high temperature. P. putida NBRI0987 colony-forming unit (CFU)/ml on day 10 in both the absence and presence of MgSO4.7H(2)O (MgSO4) in combination with glycerol at 40 degrees C were 0.0 and 1.7 x 10(11), respectively. MgSO4 plus glycerol also enhanced the ability of P. putida NBRI0987 to tolerate high temperatures by inducing its ability to form biofilm. However, production of alginate was not critical for biofilm formation. The present study demonstrates overexpression of stress sigma factor sigma(S) (RpoS) when P. putida NBRI0987 is grown under high-temperature stress at 40 degrees C compared with 30 degrees C. We present evidence, albeit indirect, that the adaptation of P. putida NBRI0987 to high temperatures is a complex multilevel regulatory process in which many different genes can be involved.