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Methods for Studying Biofilms in Azospirillum and Other PGPRs

  • Chapter
Handbook for Azospirillum

Abstract

To produce beneficial effects, plant growth promoting bacteria have to interact with the plant surface to form complex multicellular assemblies and aggregates named biofilms. The study of biofilm development and its physiology is an emerging topic in the knowledge of plant microbe interaction. Therefore, techniques to study its formation and functions are evolving from easy approaches to more complex, time consuming, and with expensive equipment requirement ones. The multiwell microtiter plate assay is the most widely used method due to its versatility to reveal the biofilm and that it allows the analysis of different stages of biofilm. Other more sophisticated protocols based on the use of fluorochromes are described. Care should be taken in analyzing results and their interpretation as differences among roots colonizing and biofilm formed on inert supports are normally to occur. Here, we make a presentation of the methods used to study biofilm and then describe in detail the most commonly used in investigations of rhizobacteria biofilms and its components with application to root colonization.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Unidad Integrada Balcarce: Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias, Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata-EEA Balcarce INTA, Ruta 226, Km 73, Balcarce, 7620, Argentina

    Florencia Salcedo, Cintia M. Pereyra, Andrés Arruebarrena Di Palma & Cecilia M. Creus

  2. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Instituto de Investigaciones Biológicas, Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Técnicas (CONICET), Funes 3250 4to nivel, Mar del Plata, 7600, Argentina

    Lorenzo Lamattina

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  1. Florencia Salcedo
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  2. Cintia M. Pereyra
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  3. Andrés Arruebarrena Di Palma
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  4. Lorenzo Lamattina
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  5. Cecilia M. Creus
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Correspondence to Cecilia M. Creus .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratorio de Fisiología Vegetal y de la Interacción Planta-Microorganismo, Universidad Nacional de Rio Cuarto, Rio Cuarto, Córdoba, Argentina

    Fabricio Dario Cassán

  2. Faculty of Agricultue Food and Environme, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Rehovot, Central, Israel

    Yaacov Okon

  3. Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias, Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata, Balcarce, Argentina

    Cecilia M. Creus

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Salcedo, F., Pereyra, C.M., Arruebarrena Di Palma, A., Lamattina, L., Creus, C.M. (2015). Methods for Studying Biofilms in Azospirillum and Other PGPRs. In: Cassán, F., Okon, Y., Creus, C. (eds) Handbook for Azospirillum. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-06542-7_11

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