Unravelling the significance of ACC-deaminase in Sustainable Arid Soil Management

Abstract

Drought stress is one of the most key environmental stresses that limit crop productivity, especially in dryland soils. The stress caused by low soil water availability could lead to huge economic losses. Such issues demand a sustainable approach that could either increase the tolerance of the crops to low water stress or increase water availability, which is of high concern during the era of climate change. Mining the beneficial microbes from soils and plants for their multifaceted activities could stimulate crop growth and enhance drought tolerance. The drought stress often results in an increased accumulation of ethylene in the crop, reducing the crop growth and yield. Soil dwelling beneficial microbes could play an imperative role in this regard. These microbes produce an enzyme, ACC-deaminase (1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate deaminase) that are produced in response to the increased load of ethylene in the plant. The main reason for releasing this remarkable enzyme under a stressed environment is to break the ACC (an immediate precursor of ethylene) to ammonia and α-ketobutyrate, which are further utilised as nitrogen sources by the microbes. The conversion of ACC to these by-products lower the ethylene levels in the plants and reduces drought stress. Therefore, understanding and unravelling the importance of ACC-deaminase producing microbes will benefit the crop production in arid and semi-arid regions.