61Metabolites of Pseudomonads:
A New Avenue of Plant Health
Management
Janardan Jani, Noushad Parvez and Deepak Mehta
A. K. Chakravarthy (ed.), New Horizons in Insect Science: Towards Sustainable Pest Management,
DOI 10.1007/978-81-322-2089-3_7, © Springer India 2015
J. Jani () · N. Parvez · D. Mehta
Biological Control Research Laboratory, Anand
Agricultural University, Anand, Gujarat 388110, India
e-mail: [email protected]
Abstract
Biotic threat in the form of insect pests is a major cause for yield loss in
agricultural systems and an important factor affecting the structure and
productivity of crop plant communities. However, bacteria antagonistic to
plant pathogens and harmful insects are known to reduce plant contagion.
These bacteria have been extensively studied in agricultural systems where
they significantly contribute to soil suppressiveness, which is the natural
potential of soils to inhibit plant pathogens. The genus Pseudomonas has
been reported extensively not only for preventing infectious diseases but
also promoting plant growth. Many Pseudomonas spp. have been reported
for the presence of genes that are responsible for construct, and produce
an array of imperative metabolites such as indole acetic acid (IAA), 2–4
di-acetyl phluoroglucinol (DAPG), HCN, phenazines, lipodepsipeptide,
pyrrolnitrin, pyoverdin (Pvd) and pyochelin, etc. for such twofold and sig-
nificant tasks. Improved Pseudomonas strains for their potential genes and
control over the transformation of proteins responsible for the formation
of such metabolites and also their desirable expression in the plant vicinity
are nowadays a major concern throughout the world. Loss of biodiversity
of such Pseudomonas spp. is proved likely to reduce the resistance of plant
communities to soil borne diseases and highlight that the interrelation-
ships between plants and such microorganisms need closer consideration
to understand the functioning of ecosystems and to manage agricultural
systems in an environmentally friendly and sustainable way.Keywords
Metabolites · Pseudomonads · Plant Health Management