1-Aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate deaminase from Pseudomonas putida UW4 facilitates the growth of canola in the presence of salt

The growth of canola plants treated with either wild-type Pseudomonas putida UW4 or a 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate (ACC) deaminase minus mutant of this strain was monitored in the presence of inhibitory levels of salt, i.e., 1.0 mol/L at 10 °C and 150 mmol/L at 20 °C. This strain is psychrotolerant with a maximal growth rate of approximately 30 °C and the ability to proliferate at 4 °C. Although plant growth was inhibited dramatically by the addition of 1.0 mol/L salt at 10 °C and only slightly by 150 mmol/L salt at 20 °C under both sets of conditions, the addition of the wild type but not the mutant strain of P. putida UW4 significantly improved plant growth. This result confirms the previous suggestion that bacterial strains that contain ACC deaminase confer salt tolerance to plants by lowering salt-induced ethylene synthesis.