Do volatile compounds produced by Fusarium oxysporum and Verticillium dahliae affect stress tolerance in plants?

Volatile compounds (VCs) produced by diverse microbes seem to affect plant growth, development and/or stress tolerance. We investigated how VCs released by soilborne fungi  and affect a responses to abiotic and biotic stresses. Under salt stress, VCs from both fungi helped its growth and increased chlorophyll content. However, in contrast to wild-type (Col-0), VCs failed to increase leaf surface area in auxin signalling mutants and . Compared to wild-type Col-0, the degree of lateral root density enhanced by VCs in these mutants was also reduced. Consistent with the involvement of auxin signalling in fungal VC-mediated salt torelance, line carrying displayed increased auxin accumulation in root apex upon exposure to VCs, and 1-naphthylphthalamic acid, an auxin transport inhibitor, adversely affected VC-mediated salt tolerance. VCs induced the expression of but not in lines containing and . When challenged with after the exposure to VCs, showed reduced disease symptoms. However, the number of bacterial cells in VC-treated plants was not significantly different from that in control plants.