Regulation of symbiotic nitrogen fixation in root nodules of alfalfa (Medicago sativa) infected with Rhizobium meliloti

1977 ◽  
Vol 115 (1) ◽  
pp. 103-108 ◽  
Author(s):  
Werner Kamberger
Keyword(s):  
Nitrogen Fixation ◽  
Medicago Sativa ◽  
Symbiotic Nitrogen Fixation ◽  
Rhizobium Meliloti ◽  
Root Nodules

scholarly journals EFFETS DES SOUCHES DE RHIZOBIUM MELILOTI ET DES COUPES SUCCESSIVES DE LA LUZERNE (MEDICAGO SATIVA) SUR LA FIXATION SYMBIOTIQUE D’AZOTE

1977 ◽  
Vol 57 (2) ◽  
pp. 433-439 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. M. BORDELEAU ◽  
H. ANTOUN ◽  
R. A. LACHANCE
Keyword(s):  
Nitrogen Fixation ◽  
Medicago Sativa ◽  
Statistical Study ◽  
Symbiotic Nitrogen Fixation ◽  
Rhizobium Meliloti ◽  
Dry Weight ◽  
Indirect Measurement ◽  
Controlled Environment ◽  
Symbiotic Efficiency ◽  
Plant Yield

Symbiotic nitrogen fixation with 49 isolates of Rhizobium meliloti was studied under controlled environment with alfalfa cv. Saranac. It was shown that plant yield in dry weight can be used as an indirect measurement of nitrogen fixation, and as a criterion for selecting efficient strains of R. meliloti. Statistical study on yields of three cuttings has established that the second cutting gives the most necessary information to correctly evaluate the symbiotic efficiency of the isolates. Six very efficient strains were selected.

Overexpression of the dctA gene in Rhizobium meliloti: effect on transport of C4 dicarboxylates and symbiotic nitrogen fixation

1992 ◽  
Vol 38 (6) ◽  
pp. 555-562 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vipin Rastogi ◽  
Monika Labes ◽  
Turlough Finan ◽  
Robert Watson
Keyword(s):  
Nitrogen Fixation ◽  
Acetylene Reduction ◽  
Symbiotic Nitrogen Fixation ◽  
Plasmid Stability ◽  
Rhizobium Meliloti ◽  
Mrna Synthesis ◽  
Dicarboxylate Transport ◽  
Fusion Strain ◽  
Tryptophan Operon ◽  
Specific Mrna

Symbiotic nitrogen fixation may be limited by the transport of C4 dicarboxylates into bacteroids in the nodule for use as a carbon and energy source. In an attempt to increase dicarboxylate transport, a plasmid was constructed in which the Rhizobium meliloti structural transport gene dctA was fused to a tryptophan operon promoter from Salmonella typhimurium, trpPO. This resulted in a functional dctA gene that was no longer under the control of the dctBD regulatory genes, but the recombinant plasmid was found to be unstable in R. meliloti. To stably integrate the trpPO-dctA fusion, it was recloned into pBR325 and recombined into the R. meliloti exo megaplasmid in the dctABD region. The resultant strain showed constitutive dctA-specific mRNA synthesis which was about 5-fold higher than that found in fully induced wild-type cells. Uptake assays showed that [14C]succinate transport by the trpPO-dctA fusion strain was constitutive, and the transport rate was the same as that of induced control cells. Acetylene reduction assays indicated a significantly higher rate of nitrogen fixation in plants inoculated with the trpPO-dctA fusion strain compared with the control. Despite this apparent increase, the plants had the same top dry weights as those inoculated with control cells. Key words: acetylene reduction, genetic engineering, nodule, plasmid stability, promoter.

scholarly journals ABSENCE OF A CORRELATION BETWEEN NITRATE REDUCTASE AND SYMBIOTIC NITROGEN FIXATION EFFICIENCY IN RHIZOBIUM MELILOTI

1980 ◽  
Vol 60 (1) ◽  
pp. 209-212 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. ANTOUN ◽  
L. M. BORDELEAU ◽  
D. PRÉVOST ◽  
R. A. LACHANCE
Keyword(s):  
Nitrogen Fixation ◽  
Nitrate Reductase ◽  
Dry Matter ◽  
Symbiotic Nitrogen Fixation ◽  
Rhizobium Meliloti ◽  
Specific Activities ◽  
Selection Of

Specific activities of the assimilatory and "regulatory" types of nitrate reductase were studied in 41 strains of Rhizobium meliloti having different symbiotic nitrogen fixation activities. Both nitrate reductase enzymes were present in very effective and ineffective strains and no significant correlation was found between the specific activities of the two enzymes and the dry matter yields of alfalfa obtained with the 41 strains. Measurements of the specific activities of the two nitrate reductase enzymes in the vegetative bacteria cannot be used as a rapid physiological test for the selection of very effective strains of R. meliloti.

scholarly journals The rhizobial autotransporter determines the symbiotic nitrogen fixation activity of Lotus japonicus in a host-specific manner

2020 ◽  
Vol 117 (3) ◽  
pp. 1806-1815 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yoshikazu Shimoda ◽  
Yuki Nishigaya ◽  
Hiroko Yamaya-Ito ◽  
Noritoshi Inagaki ◽  
Yosuke Umehara ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Nitrogen Fixation ◽  
Host Plant ◽  
Symbiotic Nitrogen Fixation ◽  
Root Nodules ◽  
Lotus Japonicus ◽  
Dependent Manner ◽  
Strain Specificity ◽  
Passenger Domain ◽  
Aspartic Peptidase ◽  
Specific Manner

Leguminous plants establish endosymbiotic associations with rhizobia and form root nodules in which the rhizobia fix atmospheric nitrogen. The host plant and intracellular rhizobia strictly control this symbiotic nitrogen fixation. We recently reported a Lotus japonicus Fix− mutant, apn1 (aspartic peptidase nodule-induced 1), that impairs symbiotic nitrogen fixation. APN1 encodes a nodule-specific aspartic peptidase involved in the Fix− phenotype in a rhizobial strain-specific manner. This host-strain specificity implies that some molecular interactions between host plant APN1 and rhizobial factors are required, although the biological function of APN1 in nodules and the mechanisms governing the interactions are unknown. To clarify how rhizobial factors are involved in strain-specific nitrogen fixation, we explored transposon mutants of Mesorhizobium loti strain TONO, which normally form Fix− nodules on apn1 roots, and identified TONO mutants that formed Fix+ nodules on apn1. The identified causal gene encodes an autotransporter, part of a protein secretion system of Gram-negative bacteria. Expression of the autotransporter gene in M. loti strain MAFF3030399, which normally forms Fix+ nodules on apn1 roots, resulted in Fix− nodules. The autotransporter of TONO functions to secrete a part of its own protein (a passenger domain) into extracellular spaces, and the recombinant APN1 protein cleaved the passenger protein in vitro. The M. loti autotransporter showed the activity to induce the genes involved in nodule senescence in a dose-dependent manner. Therefore, we conclude that the nodule-specific aspartic peptidase, APN1, suppresses negative effects of the rhizobial autotransporter in order to maintain effective symbiotic nitrogen fixation in root nodules.

Phenotypic reversion of nitrogenase in pleiotropic mutants of Rhizobium meliloti

1979 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 298-301 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ilona Barabás ◽  
Tibor Sik
Keyword(s):  
Amino Acids ◽  
Nitrogen Fixation ◽  
Nitrate Reductase ◽  
Nitrate Reductase Activity ◽  
Symbiotic Nitrogen Fixation ◽  
Rhizobium Meliloti ◽  
Nitrogenase Activity ◽  
Reductase Activity ◽  
Amino Acid Utilization ◽  
Phenotypic Reversion

In two out of three pleiotropic mutants of Rhizobium meliloti, defective in nitrate reductase induced by amino acid utilization in vegetative bacteria and in symbiotic nitrogen fixation, nitrogenase activity could be restored completely by purines and partially by the amino acids L-glutamate, L-aspartate, L-glutamine, and L-asparagine. The compounds restoring effectiveness in nitrogen fixation did not restore nitrate reductase activity in vegetative bacteria. The restoration of effectiveness supports our earlier conclusion that the mutation is not in the structural gene for a suggested common subunit of nitrogenase and nitrate reductase.

Gene Expression of Medicago sativa Inoculated with Sinorhizobium meliloti as Modulated by the Xenobiotics Cadmium and Fluoranthene

2000 ◽  
Vol 55 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 222-232 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heike Neumann ◽  
Dietrich Werner
Keyword(s):  
Gene Expression ◽  
Arabidopsis Thaliana ◽  
Medicago Sativa ◽  
Sinorhizobium Meliloti ◽  
Rhizobium Meliloti ◽  
Root Nodules ◽  
Cadmium Concentration ◽  
Transcript Level ◽  
Northern Hybridization ◽  
Fresh Weight

Abstract Alfalfa plants (Medicago sativa cv. Europe) inoculated with Sinorhizobium meliloti 2011 (formerly Rhizobium meliloti, de Lajudie et al., 1994) were cultivated for 14 days under standardized growth conditions in mineral medium with addition of the heavy metal cadmium or the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon fluoranthene. These xenobiotics significantly reduced the numbers of root nodules before any visible damage to the plant could be detected. EC10. EC50, and EC90 (effective concentrations reducing nodulation, shoot and root fresh weight by 10, 50, or 90% compared to the control without pollutant) were calculated. EC50 for cadmium ranged from 5.8 jam (nodulation) to more than 20 μᴍ (root fresh weight). Testing fluoranthene resulted in an EC50 of 2.5 μg cm-2 for nodulation, and EC50 values of more than 35 μg cm-2 for shoot and root biomass production, indicating that the effect parameter nodulation is 10-fold more sensitive than shoot and root fresh weight. With m RNA differential display techniques the effects of both xenobiotics on gene expression in alfalfa root systems were studied. 37 differentially displayed transcripts were detected. Two of them, called DDMs1 and DDMs2, were confirmed by northern hybridization to be down-regulated in the presence of the xenobiotics. The expression of transcript DDMs1 was enhanced in alfalfa control plants inoculated with rhizobia, the transcript level was increased 2.5-3-fold compared to non-inoculated plants. This positive effect of nodulation was suppressed, partly by 35 μg cm-2 fluoranthene and totally by 20 μᴍ cadmium. The decrease in DDMsl transcription was highly affected by the cadmium concentration with an EC50 of 5.9 μᴍ . Compared to nodulation, almost identical EC10, EC50. and EC90 values were found for DDMsl expression. Sequence analysis of DDMsl revealed a significant overall homology (50% identity) to a hypothetical protein from Arabidopsis thaliana with high similarity to a copper transporting ATPase. High levels of transcript DDMs2 were observed in control plants with a 50% decrease in the xenobiotic-treated plants. DDM s2 gave a strong homology (82% identity) to the cytoplasmatic 60S ribosomal protein L18 from Arabidopsis thaliana.

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