Bacterial mutualists are often acquired from the environment by eukaryotic hosts. However, both theory and empirical work suggest that this bacterial lifestyle is evolutionarily unstable. Bacterial evolution outside of the host is predicted to favor traits that promote an independent lifestyle in the environment at a cost to symbiotic function. Consistent with these predictions, environmentally...

Hemoglobins are ubiquitous in nature and among the best-characterized proteins. Genetics has revealed crucial roles for human hemoglobins, but similar data are lacking for plants. Plants contain symbiotic and nonsymbiotic hemoglobins; the former are thought to be important for symbiotic nitrogen fixation (SNF). In legumes, SNF occurs in specialized organs, called nodules, which contain millions...

We have physically and genetically characterized 20 symbiotic and 20 auxotrophic mutants of Rhizobium meliloti, the nitrogen-fixing symbiont of alfalfa (Medicago sativa), isolated by transposon Tn5 mutagenesis. A "suicide plasmid" mutagenesis procedure was used to generate TN-5-induced mutants, and both auxotrophic and symbiotic mutants were found at a frequency of 0.3% among strains containing...

Legume-rhizobium pairs are often observed that produce symbiotic root nodules but fail to fix nitrogen. Using the Sinorhizobium meliloti and Medicago truncatula symbiotic system, we previously described several naturally occurring accessory plasmids capable of disrupting the late stages of nodule development while enhancing bacterial proliferation within the nodule. We report here that host ran...

Very little is known about the role of epigenetics in the differentiation of a bacterium from the free-living to the symbiotic state. Here genome-wide analysis of DNA methylation changes between these states is described using the model of symbiosis between soybean and its root nodule-forming, nitrogen-fixing symbiont, Bradyrhizobium diazoefficiens. PacBio resequencing of the B. diazoefficiens ...

Mutualistic endosymbioses between two partners are complex associations that are regulated by the genetic interactions of the partners. One important marine symbiosis is that between various cnidarians, such as corals and anemones, and their photosynthetic algal symbionts. We have been interested in characterizing cnidarian host genes that are expressed as a function of the symbiotic state, usi...

Burkholderia is a diverse and dynamic genus, containing pathogenic species as well as species that form complex interactions with plants. Pathogenic strains, such as B. pseudomallei and B. mallei, can cause serious disease in mammals, while other Burkholderia strains are opportunistic pathogens, infecting humans or animals with a compromised immune system. Although some of the opportunistic Bur...

We previously reported that isolation of symbiotic Chlorella-like algae from the Florida strain of Hydra viridis induced replication of a virus (designated HVCV-1) in the algae. We now report that isolation of symbiotic Chlorella-like algae from four other sources of green hydra and one source of the protozoan Paramecium bursaria also induced virus synthesis. Algae from one of these hydra conta...

Legumes form endosymbiotic interaction with host compatible rhizobia, resulting in the development of nitrogen-fixing root nodules. Within symbiotic nodules, rhizobia are intracellularly accommodated in plant-derived membrane compartments, termed symbiosomes. In mature nodule, the massively colonized cells tolerate the existence of rhizobia without manifestation of visible defense responses, in...

We investigate the IR spectral features of a sample of D-type symbiotic stars in order to constrain the emitting properties of coupled dust-gas particles across the whole system. In particular, analyzing unexploited ISO-SWS data, deriving the basic observational parameters of dust bands, and comparing them with respect to those observed in other astronomical sources, we try to highlight the eff...