Fifty-seven strains of various Rhizobium species were analyzed by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis. Since the protein pattern on such gels is a reflection of the genetic background of the tested strains, similarities in pattern allowed us to estimate the relatedness between these strains. All group II rhizobia (slow growing) were closely related and were very distinct from group I rhizobia (...

In the fast-growing Rhizobium species, repeated DNA sequences, which include the promoter region of the nif HDK operon have been described. These repeated sequences are promoters which specifically activate transcription in the endosymbiotic state. Hybridization analysis of these sequences from R. trifolii has revealed that they may be involved in the species-specific activation of the various ...

A cultivation-independent approach was used to identify potentially nitrogen-fixing endophytes in seven sweet potato varieties collected in Uganda and Kenya. Nitrogenase reductase genes (nifH) were amplified by PCR, and amplicons were cloned in Escherichia coli. Clones were grouped by restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis, and representative nifH genes were sequenced. The resulting ...

A target for ISRm3 transposition in Rhizobium meliloti IZ450 is another insertion sequence element, named ISRm5. ISRm5 is 1,340 bp in length and possesses terminal inverted repeats of unequal lengths (27 and 28 bp) and contain five mismatches. An open reading frame that spans 89% of the length of one DNA strand encodes a putative transposase with significant similarity to the putative transposa...

Alfalfa plants form bacteria-free nodules in response to a number of agents, including Rhizobium meliloti exo mutants, Agrobacterium tumefaciens transconjugants carrying cloned R. meliloti nodulation genes, and compounds that function as auxin transport inhibitors, N-( 1-naphthyl)phthalamic acid or 2,3,5-triiodobenzoic acid. These bacteria-free nodules contain transcripts for the nodulins Nms30...

Rhizobium tropici is a broad host-range symbiont of Phaseolus vulgaris. This bacterium produces a mixture of sulfated and non-sulfated N-methylated pentameric nodulation (Nod) factors. To understand the genetic bases of the partial sulfation of R. tropici Nod factors, which might be involved in the broad host-range of this species, we introduced in R. tropici CFN299 the recombinant plasmid pGMI...

An acid-sensitive mutant, TG5-46, derived from Rhizobium meliloti WSM419 by Tn5 mutagenesis, fails to grow below pH 6.0 whereas the parent strain grows at pH 5.7. The DNA sequence of a 2.2 kb rhizobial DNA region flanking Tn5 in TG5-46 contains two open reading frames, ORF1 (designated actS) and ORF2 (designated actR), having high similarity to the sensor-regulator pairs of the two-component sy...

The halotolerant strain Rhizobium meliloti EFB1 modifies the production of extracellular polysaccharides in response to salt. EFB1 colonies grown in the presence of 0.3 M NaCl show a decrease in mucoidy, and in salt-supplemented liquid medium this organism produces 40% less exopolysaccharides. We isolated transposon-induced mutant that, when grown in the absence of salt, had a colony morphology...

A cloned 17.3-kilobase region of the Rhizobium meliloti genome with homology to the Klebsiella pneumoniae nitrogenase structural genes was studied. Limits on the extent of homology were determined. Transposon mutagenesis of this region of the genome verified that it contained functional nif genes, Some transposon insertions resulted in a defective symbiotic phenotype, whereas others had no noti...