Microscopic analysis of the effect ofRhizobium leguminosarum biovartrifolii host specific nodulation genes in the infection of white clovers

Summary A microscopic assessment is presented of the comparative infection capacity of wild-type and hybrid strains ofRhizobium leguminosarum bv.viciae withR. l. bv.trifolii strain ANU 843 on white clover seedlings. TheR. l. bv.viciae hybrid strains contained defined DNA segments coding for different combinations ofR. l. bv.trifolii host-specific nodulation genes. White clover plants were examined over a 72 h period to assessRhizobium infectivity, the morphological changes in root hair growth; colonisation ability of rhizobia; infection thread initiation and the ability to induce cortical cell division.R. l. bv.viciae strain 300 induced root hair curling more slowly than strain ANU 843 or any of the hybrid strain 300 bacteria, and when curling had taken place, there was poorer colonization by strain 300 within the folded hair cell, no evidence of infection thread formation and only limited cortical cell division 72 h after inoculation. The addition of the host-specific nodulation genes ofR. l. bv.trifolii to strain 300 was necessary to induce infection threads and establish a normal pattern of nodulation of the roots of white clovers.     

N-Acetylglutamic acid: an extracellular nod signal of Rhizobium trifolii ANU843 that induces root hair branching and nodule-like primordia in white clover roots

An extracellular metabolite purified from Rhizobium trifolii ANU843 was established as N-acetylglutamic acid (GluNAc) by 1H NMR and Fourier transform IR spectroscopy, gas chromatography/mass spectrometry of its methylated product, and organic synthesis. TLC analyses indicated that extracellular accumulation of GluNAc by R. trifolii ANU843 grown in defined BIII culture medium was dependent on induction of its bacterial nodulation (nod) genes and the positive regulatory gene nodD on its symbiotic plasmid. 1H NMR analyses showed less GluNAc in fractionated culture supernatants of nodL and nodM mutant derivatives of R. trifolii ANU843. GluNAc induced three morphological responses on axenic roots of white clover seedlings: (i) root hair branching; (ii) tip swelling followed by resumed elongation of root hairs; and (iii) a slight increase in foci of cortical cell divisions, which developed into nodule-like primordia. These biological activities of extracellular GluNAc from R. trifolii ANU843 were confirmed with authentic standards of GluNAc. These results indicate that extracellular accumulation of N-acetylglutamic acid is linked to flavone-dependent metabolism involving nodD, nodL, and nodM in R. trifolii ANU843. This constitutes the first report on the structure of a nod-dependent extracellular signal from R. trifolii that can affect root hair and nodule development in white clover and whose biological activity on this host has been confirmed with authentic standards.     

Expression of the 2,4-D degrading plasmid pJP4 of Alcaligenes eutrophus in Rhizobium trifolii

The 2,4-dichlorophenoxy acetic acid (2,4-D) degrading plasmid, pJP4, was transferred into Rhizobium trifolii ANU843 from its nature host Alcaligenes eutrophus JMP134 by conjugation. The ability to degrade 2,4-D was expressed in the transconjugant ANU843p as shown by a total loss of UV-absorbent compounds and by gas chromatographic analysis. However, the transconjugant was unable to grow on 2,4-D alone. When the transconjugant strain ANU843p was inoculated onto white and subterranean clover plants in laboratory trials, the transconjugant retained the capacity of nodulation, but the nitrogen-fixation activity was diminished, particularly in the case of subterranean clover. The plasmid in the transconjugant was stable in nodules for at least nine weeks after inoculation and could be of value in applications requiring the protection or removal of the 2,4-D involving cometabolism with plant substrates.     

Nodulation of specific legumes is controlled by several distinct loci in Rhizobium trifolii

Summary Three distinct loci (designated regions III, IV and V) were identified in the 14 kb Nod region of Rhizobium trifolii strain ANU843 and were found to determine the host range characteristics of this strain. Deletion of region III or region V only from the 14 kb Nod region affected clover nodulation capacity. The introduction to R. Leguminosarum of DNA fragments on multicopy vectors carrying regions III, IV and V (but not smaller fragments) extended the host range of R. leguminosarum so that infection threads and nodules occurred on white clover plants. The same DNA fragments were introduced to the Sym plasmid-cured strain (ANU845) carrying the R. meliloti recombinant nodulation plasmid pRmSL26. Plasmid pRmSL26 alone does not confer root hair curling or nodulation on clover plants. However, the introduction to ANU845 (pRmSL26) of a 1.4 kb fragment carrying R. trifolii region IV only, resulted in the phenotypic activation of marked root hair curling ability to this strain on clovers but no infection events or nodules resulted. Only the transfer of regions III, IV and V to strain ANU845 (pRmSL26) conferred normal nodulation and host range ability of the original wild type R. trifolii strain. These results indicate that the host range genes determine the outcome of early plant-bacterial interactions primarily at the stage of root hair curling and infection.     

Expression of Rhizobium trifolii early nodulation genes on maize and rice plants.

An IncQ multicopy vector (pKT230) and an IncP1 low-copy-number vector (pRK290), both carrying Rhizobium trifolii root hair curling (Hac) genes, were transferred to a Sym plasmid-cured derivative of R. trifolii ANU843. The resulting transconjugants were used to inoculate the monocotyledonous plants sorghum, maize, rice, and wheat. Transconjugants carrying the Hac genes on the multicopy vector caused a root hair curling response on maize and rice plants 14 days after inoculation.     

Distribution of O-acetyl groups in the exopolysaccharide synthesized by Rhizobium leguminosarum strains is not determined by the Sym plasmid

The patterns of O-acetylation of the exopolysaccharide (EPS) from the Sym plasmid-cured derivatives of Rhizobium leguminosarum bv. trifolii strain LPR5, R. leguminosarum bv. trifolii strain ANU843 and R. leguminosarum bv. viciae strain 248 were determined by 1H and 13C NMR spectroscopy. Beside a site indicative of the chromosomal background, these strains have one site of O-acetylation in common, namely residue b of the repeating unit. The O-acetyl esterification pattern of EPS of the Sym plasmid-cured derivatives of strains LPR5, ANU843, and 248 was not altered by the introduction of a R. leguminosarum bv. viciae Sym plasmid or a R. leguminosarum bv. trifolii Sym plasmid. The induction of nod gene expression by growth of the bacteria in the presence of Vicia sativa plants or by the presence of the flavonoid naringenin, produced no significant changes in either amount or sites of O-acetyl substitution. Furthermore, no such changes were found in the EPS from a Rhizobium strain in which the nod genes are constitutively expressed. The substitution pattern of the exopolysaccharide from R. leguminosarum is, therefore, determined by the bacterial genome and is not influenced by genes present on the Sym plasmid. This conclusion is inconsistent with the suggestion of Philip-Hollingsworth et al. (Philip-Hollingsworth, S., Hollingsworth, R. I., Dazzo, F. B., Djordjevic, M. A., and Rolfe, B. G. (1989) J. Biol. Chem. 264, 5710-5714) that nod genes of R. leguminosarum bv. trifolii, by influencing the acetylation pattern of EPS, determine the host specificity of nodulation.     

A cultivar-specific interaction between Rhizobium leguminosarum bv. trifolii and subterranean clover is controlled by nodM, other bacterial cultivar specificity genes, and a single recessive host gene.

Insertion mutagenesis identified two negatively acting gene loci which restrict the ability of Rhizobium leguminosarum bv. trifolii TA1 to infect the homologous host Trifolium subterraneum cv. Woogenellup. One locus was confirmed by DNA sequence analysis as the nodM gene, while the other locus, designated csn-1 (cultivar-specific nodulation), is not located on the symbiosis plasmid. The presence of these cultivar specificity loci could be suppressed by the introduction of the nodT gene from ANU843, a related R. leguminosarum bv. trifolii strain. Other nod genes, present in R. leguminosarum bv. viciae (including nodX) and R. meliloti, were capable of complementing R. leguminosarum bv. trifolii TA1 for nodulation on cultivar Woogenellup. Nodulation studies conducted with F2 seedlings from a cross between cultivar Geraldton and cultivar Woogenellup indicated that a single recessive gene, designated rwt1, is responsible for the Nod- association between strain TA1 and cultivar Woogenellup. Parallels can be drawn between this association and gene-for-gene systems common in interactions between plants and biotrophic pathogens.     

Rhizobium lipopolysaccharide modulates infection thread development in white clover root hairs.

The interaction between Rhizobium lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and white clover roots was examined. The Limulus lysate assay indicated that Rhizobium leguminosarum bv. trifolii (hereafter called R. trifolii) released LPS into the external root environment of slide cultures. Immunofluorescence and immunoelectron microscopy showed that purified LPS from R. trifolii 0403 bound rapidly to root hair tips and infiltrated across the root hair wall. Infection thread formation in root hairs was promoted by preinoculation treatment of roots with R. trifolii LPS at a low dose (up to 5 micrograms per plant) but inhibited at a higher dose. This biological activity of LPS was restricted to the region of the root present at the time of exposure to LPS, higher with LPS from cells in the early stationary phase than in the mid-exponential phase, incubation time dependent, incapable of reversing inhibition of infection by NO3- or NH4+, and conserved among serologically distinct LPSs from several wild-type R. trifolii strains (0403, 2S-2, and ANU843). In contrast, infections were not increased by preinoculation treatment of roots with LPSs from R. leguminosarum bv. viciae strain 300, R. meliloti 102F28, or members of the family Enterobacteriaceae. Most infection threads developed successfully in root hairs pretreated with R. trifolii LPS, whereas many infections aborted near their origins and accumulated brown deposits if pretreated with LPS from R. meliloti 102F28. LPS from R. leguminosarum 300 also caused most infection threads to abort. Other specific responses of root hairs to infection-stimulating LPS from R. trifolii included acceleration of cytoplasmic streaming and production of novel proteins. Combined gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy and proton nuclear magnetic resonance analyses indicated that biologically active LPS from R. trifolii 0403 in the early stationary phase had less fucose but more 2-O-methylfucose, quinovosamine, 3,6-dideoxy-3-(methylamino)galactose, and noncarbohydrate substituents (O-methyl, N-methyl, and acetyl groups) on glycosyl components than did inactive LPS in the mid-exponential phase. We conclude that LPS-root hair interactions trigger metabolic events that have a significant impact on successful development of infection threads in this Rhizobium-legume symbiosis.     

The Rhizobium leguminosarum biovar trifolii ANU794 induces novel developmental responses on the subterranean clover cultivar Woogenellup

The clover-nodulating Rhizobium leguminosarum bv. trifolii ANU794 initiates normal root-nodule development with abnormally low efficiency on the Trifolium subterraneum cv. Woogenellup. The cellular and developmental responses of Woogenellup roots to the site- and dose-defined inoculation of green fluorescent protein (gfp)-labeled cells of ANU843 (nodulation proficient) and ANU794 was investigated using light, fluorescence, and confocal microscopy. Strain ANU794-gfp induced three primordia types and four developmental responses at the inoculation site: true or aberrant nodules (on 5 and 25% of plants, respectively), hybrid structures (20% of plants), or lateral roots (50% of plants). The novel hybrid structures possessed nodule and lateral root-like features and unusual vascular patterning. Strain ANU794-gfp induces lateral root formation by stimulating pericycle cell divisions at all nearby protoxylem poles. Only true nodules induced by ANU794-gfp contained intracellular bacteria. In contrast, strain ANU843-gfp induced nodules only and lateral root formation was suppressed at spot inoculation sites. Primordium types were distinguishable by the emission spectrum characteristics of phenolic UV-absorbing and fluorescent compounds that accumulate in primordium cells. Hybrid primordia contained (at least) two fluorescent cell populations, suggesting that they are chimeric. The results suggest that ANU794 may produce both nodule- and lateral root-generating signals simultaneously.     

Flavone-enhanced accumulation and symbiosis-related biological activity of a diglycosyl diacylglycerol membrane glycolipid from Rhizobium leguminosarum biovar trifolii.

Rhizobium leguminosarum bv. trifolii is the bacterial symbiont which induces nitrogen-fixing root nodules on the leguminous host, white clover (Trifolium repens L.). In this plant-microbe interaction, the host plant excretes a flavone, 4',7-dihydroxyflavone (DHF), which activates expression of modulation genes, enabling the bacterial symbiont to elicit various symbiosis-related morphological changes in its roots. We have investigated the accumulation of a diglycosyl diacylglycerol (BF-7) in wild-type R. leguminosarum bv. trifolii ANU843 when grown with DHF and the biological activities of this glycolipid bacterial factor on host and nonhost legumes. In vivo labeling studies indicated that wild-type ANU843 cells accumulate BF-7 in response to DHF, and this flavone-enhanced alteration in membrane glycolipid composition was suppressed in isogenic nodA::Tn5 and nodD::Tn5 mutant derivatives. Seedling bioassays performed under microbiologically controlled conditions indicated that subnanomolar concentrations of purified BF-7 elicit various symbiosis-related morphological responses on white clover roots, including thick short roots, root hair deformation, and foci of cortical cell divisions. Roots of the nonhost legumes alfalfa and vetch were much less responsive to BF-7 at these low concentrations. A structurally distinct diglycosyl diacylglycerol did not induce these responses on white clover, indicating structural constraints in the biological activity of BF-7 on this legume host. In bioassays using aminoethoxyvinylglycine to suppress plant production of ethylene, BF-7 elicited a meristematic rather than collaroid type of mitogenic response in the root cortex of white clover. These results indicate an involvement of flavone-activated nod expression in membrane accumulation of BF-7 and a potent ability of this diglycosyl diacylglycerol glycolipid to perform as a bacterial factor enabling R. leguminosarum bv. trifolii to activate segments of its host's symbiotic program during early development of the root nodule symbiosis.     

Characterization of the anomalous infection and nodulation of subterranean clover roots by Rhizobium leguminosarum 1020

Anomalous nodulation of Trifolium subterraneum (subterranean clover) roots by Rhizobium leguminosarum 1020 was examined as a model of modified host-specificity in a Rhizobium-legume symbiosis. Consistent with previous reports, these nodules (i) appeared most often at sites of secondary root emergence, (ii) were ineffective in nitrogen fixation and (iii) were as numerous as nodules formed by an effective Rhizobium trifolii strain. R. leguminosarum 1020, grown on agar plates or in the clover root environment, did not bind the white clover lectin, trifoliin A. This strain did not attach in high numbers, and did not induce shepherd's crooks or infection threads, in subterranean clover root hairs. However, R. leguminosarum 1020 did cause branching, moderate curling and other deformations of root hairs. The bacteria probably entered the clover root through breaks in the epidermis at sites of lateral root emergence. The anomalous nodulation was inhibited by nitrate. Only trace amounts of leghaemoglobin were detected in the nodules by Western blot analysis. The nodules were of the meristematic type and initially contained well-developed infection, bacteroid and senescent zones. Infection threads were readily found in the infection zone of the nodule. However, the bacteroid-containing tissue senesced more rapidly than in the effective symbiosis between subterranean clover and R. trifolii 0403. This anomalous nodulation of subterranean clover by R. leguminosarum 1020 suggests a naturally-occurring alternative route of infection that allows Rhizobium to enlarge its host range.     

Development of functional symbiotic white clover root hairs and nodules requires tightly regulated production of rhizobial cellulase CelC2

The establishment of rhizobia as nitrogen-fixing endosymbionts within legume root nodules requires the disruption of the plant cell wall to breach the host barrier at strategic infection sites in the root hair tip and at points of bacterial release from infection threads (IT) within the root cortex. We previously found that Rhizobium leguminosarum bv. trifolii uses its chromosomally encoded CelC2 cellulase to erode the noncrystalline wall at the apex of root hairs, thereby creating the primary portal of its entry into white clover roots. Here, we show that a recombinant derivative of R. leguminosarum bv. trifolii ANU843 that constitutively overproduces the CelC2 enzyme has increased competitiveness in occupying aberrant nodule-like root structures on clover that are inefficient in nitrogen fixation. This aberrant symbiotic phenotype involves an extensive uncontrolled degradation of the host cell walls restricted to the expected infection sites at tips of deformed root hairs and significantly enlarged infection droplets at termini of wider IT within the nodule infection zone. Furthermore, signs of elevated plant host defense as indicated by reactive oxygen species production in root tissues were more evident during infection by the recombinant strain than its wild-type parent. Our data further support the role of the rhizobial CelC2 cell wall-degrading enzyme in primary infection, and show evidence of its importance in secondary symbiotic infection and tight regulation of its production to establish an effective nitrogen-fixing root nodule symbiosis.     

Induction of nitrogen-fixing nodules on clover requires only 32 kilobase pairs of DNA from the Rhizobium trifolii symbiosis plasmid.

Overlapping subclones from the Rhizobium trifolii symbiosis plasmid pRt843a were generated by using in vivo and in vitro methods. Subclones were assayed for symbiotic phenotype by introducing them into a derivative of R. trifolii ANU843 cured of its symbiosis plasmid and testing the transconjugant strains for the ability to induce nitrogen-fixing nodules on clover. One subclone spanning 32 kilobase pairs (kb) of DNA from pRt843a was found to restore nitrogen fixation ability. This subclone included all known nodulation genes of R. trifolii ANU843 and the nitrogenase structural genes nifHDK. In addition, regions homologous to fixABC, nifA, nifB, nifE, and nifN genes of other nitrogen-fixing bacteria were identified in this 32-kb subclone by DNA-DNA hybridization. Transposon mutagenesis of this subclone confirmed that regions containing these nif and fix genes were required for induction of nitrogen-fixing nodules on clover. In addition, a region located 5 kb downstream of the nifK gene was found to be required for induction of nitrogen-fixing nodules. No homology to known nif and fix genes could be detected in this latter region.     

Root colonization of different plants by plant-growth-promoting Rhizobium leguminosarum bv. trifolii R39 studied with monospecific polyclonal antisera.

Monospecific polyclonal antisera raised against Rhizobium leguminosarum bv. trifolii R39, a bacterium which was isolated originally from red clover nodules, were used to study the colonization of roots of leguminous and nonleguminous plants (Pisum sativum, Lupinus albus, Triticúm aestivum, and Zea mays) after inoculation. Eight weeks after inoculation of soil-grown plants, between 0.1 and 1% of the total bacterial population in the rhizospheres of all inoculated plants were identified as R. leguminosarum bv. trifolii R39. To characterize the associative colonization of the nonleguminous plants by R.leguminosarum bv. trifolii R39 in more detail, a time course study was performed with inoculated roots of Z. mays. R. leguminosarum bv. trifolii R39 was found almost exclusively in the rhizosphere soil and on the rhizoplane 4 weeks after inoculation. Colonization of inner root tissues was detected only occasionally at this time. During the process of attachment of R. leguminosarum bv. trifolii R39 to the rhizoplane, bacterial lipopolysaccharides were overexpressed, and this may be important for plant-microbe interaction. Fourteen weeks after inoculation, microcolonies of R. leguminosarum bv. trifolii R39 were detected in lysed cells of the root cortex as well as in intracellular space of central root cylinder cells. At the beginning of flowering (18 weeks after inoculation), the number of R. leguminosarum bv. trifolii R39 organisms decreased in the rhizosphere soil, rhizoplane, and inner root tissue.     

Split-Root Assays Using Trifolium subterraneum Show that Rhizobium Infection Induces a Systemic Response That Can Inhibit Nodulation of Another Invasive Rhizobium Strain

Subterranean clover plants possessing two equally infectible and robust lateral root systems (“split roots”) were used in conjunction with several specific mutant strains (derived from Rhizobium trifolii ANU843) to investigate a systemic plant response induced by infective Rhizobium strains. This plant response controls and inhibits subsequent nodulation on the plant. When strain ANU843 was inoculated onto both root systems simultaneously or 24, 48, 72, or 96 h apart, an inhibitory response occurred which retarded nodulation on the root exposed to the delayed inoculum but only when the delay period between inocula was greater than 24 h. Equal numbers of nodules were generated on both roots when ANU843 was inoculated simultaneously or 24 h apart. The ability to infect subterranean clover plants was required to initiate the plant inhibitory response since preexposure of one root system to non-nodulating strains did not retard the ability of the wild-type strain to nodulate the opposing root system (even when the delay period was 96 h). Moreover, the use of specific Tn5-induced mutants subtly impaired in their ability to nodulate demonstrated that the plant could effectively and rapidly discriminate between infections initiated by either the parent or the mutant strains. When inoculated alone onto clover plants, these mutant strains were able to infect the most susceptible plant cells at the time of inoculation and induce nitrogen-fixing nodules. However, the separate but simultaneous inoculation on opposing root systems of the parent and the mutant strains resulted in the almost complete inhibition of the nodulation ability of the mutant strains. We concluded that the mutants were affected in their competitive ability, and this finding was reflected by poor nodule occupancy when the mutants were coinoculated with the parent strain onto a single root system. Thus the split-root system may form the basis of a simple screening method for the ranking of competitiveness of various rhizobia on small seeded legumes.     

Cell-associated pectinolytic and cellulolytic enzymes in Rhizobium leguminosarum biovar trifolii.

The involvement of Rhizobium enzymes that degrade plant cell wall polymers has long been an unresolved question about the infection process in root nodule symbiosis. Here we report the production of enzymes from Rhizobium leguminosarum bv. trifolii that degrade carboxymethyl cellulose and polypectate model substrates with sensitive methods that reliably detect the enzyme activities: a double-layer plate assay, quantitation of reducing sugars with a bicinchoninate reagent, and activity gel electrophoresis-isoelectric focusing. Both enzyme activities were (i) produced commonly by diverse wild-type strains, (ii) cell bound with at least some of the activity associated with the cell envelope, and (iii) not changed appreciably by growth in the presence of the model substrates or a flavone that activates expression of nodulation (nod) genes on the resident symbiotic plasmid (pSym). Equivalent levels of carboxymethyl cellulase activity were found in wild-type strain ANU843 and its pSym-cured derivative, ANU845, consistent with previous results of Morales et al. (V. Morales, E. Martínez-Molina, and D. Hubbell, Plant Soil 80:407-415, 1984). However, polygalacturonase activity was lower in ANU845 and was not restored to wild-type levels in the recombinant derivative of pSym- ANU845 containing the common and host-specific nod genes within a 14-kb HindIII DNA fragment of pSym from ANU843 cloned on plasmid pRt032. Activity gel electrophoresis resolved three carboxymethyl cellulase isozymes of approximately 102, 56, and 33 kDa in cell extracts from ANU843. Isoelectric focusing activity gels revealed one ANU843 polygalacturonase isozyme with a pI of approximately 7.2. These studies show that R. leguminosarum bv. trifolii produces multiple enzymes that cleave glycosidic bonds in plant cell walls and that are cell bound.     

Cell-associated pectinolytic and cellulolytic enzymes in Rhizobium leguminosarum biovar trifolii.

The involvement of Rhizobium enzymes that degrade plant cell wall polymers has long been an unresolved question about the infection process in root nodule symbiosis. Here we report the production of enzymes from Rhizobium leguminosarum bv. trifolii that degrade carboxymethyl cellulose and polypectate model substrates with sensitive methods that reliably detect the enzyme activities: a double-layer plate assay, quantitation of reducing sugars with a bicinchoninate reagent, and activity gel electrophoresis-isoelectric focusing. Both enzyme activities were (i) produced commonly by diverse wild-type strains, (ii) cell bound with at least some of the activity associated with the cell envelope, and (iii) not changed appreciably by growth in the presence of the model substrates or a flavone that activates expression of nodulation (nod) genes on the resident symbiotic plasmid (pSym). Equivalent levels of carboxymethyl cellulase activity were found in wild-type strain ANU843 and its pSym-cured derivative, ANU845, consistent with previous results of Morales et al. (V. Morales, E. Martínez-Molina, and D. Hubbell, Plant Soil 80:407-415, 1984). However, polygalacturonase activity was lower in ANU845 and was not restored to wild-type levels in the recombinant derivative of pSym- ANU845 containing the common and host-specific nod genes within a 14-kb HindIII DNA fragment of pSym from ANU843 cloned on plasmid pRt032. Activity gel electrophoresis resolved three carboxymethyl cellulase isozymes of approximately 102, 56, and 33 kDa in cell extracts from ANU843. Isoelectric focusing activity gels revealed one ANU843 polygalacturonase isozyme with a pI of approximately 7.2. These studies show that R. leguminosarum bv. trifolii produces multiple enzymes that cleave glycosidic bonds in plant cell walls and that are cell bound.     

Host-range related structural features of the acidic extracellular polysaccharides of Rhizobium trifolii and Rhizobium leguminosarum

Proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR) and fast atom bombardment mass spectrometric analyses were performed on enzymatically derived oligosaccharides from the acidic excreted polysaccharides (EPS) from representative bacterial strains of the pea-nodulating symbiont, Rhizobium leguminosarum (128C53, 128C63, and 300) and the clover-nodulating symbiont, Rhizobium trifolii (NA-30, ANU843, 0403, TA-1, LPR5035, USDA20.102, and 4S). The results revealed structural similarities and differences between EPS of these two species. Octasaccharide units containing galactose, glucuronic acid, alpha-L-threo-hex-4-enopyranosyluronic acid, and glucose in a molar ratio of 1:1:1:5 were obtained from the EPS of the three R. leguminosarum strains and had the same primary glycosyl sequence and location of pyruvate, acetate, and 3-hydroxybutyrate substituents. About 80% of the galactose residues were acylated with 3-hydroxybutyrate, and there were two acetyl groups per repeating unit distributed between the 2 glucose residues of the main chain-derived sequence of the octasaccharides. In contrast, the R. trifolii strains had varied EPS structures, each of which differed from the common R. leguminosarum EPS structure. The EPS from one group of R. trifolii strains (0403 and LPR5035) most closely resembled the R. leguminosarum EPS but differed in that a lower number of galactose and glucose residues were substituted by 3-hydroxybutyryl and acetyl groups, respectively. The EPS from a second group of R. trifolii strains (ANU843, TA-1, and NA-30) was even more different than the R. leguminosarum EPS. These R. trifolii octasaccharides bore a single acetyl group on O-3 of the glucuronic acid residue. In addition, the level of acylation by 3-hydroxybutyryl groups was 50% of that present in the R. leguminosarum EPS. The remaining two strains of R. trifolii (USDA20.102 and 4S) had very different patterns of acylation to each other and to all of the other strains. The EPS from strain USDA20.102 practically lacked 3-hydroxybutyryl groups and had a unique degree and pattern of acetylation. The oligomers from the EPS of R. trifolii strain 4S completely lacked 3-hydroxybutyryl groups and galactose. The latter EPS contained only one O-1-carboxyethylidene group and had a different degree and pattern of acetylation. Interestingly, these two latter strains differ from the other R. trifolii strains in nodulation rates on rare clover species in the Trifolium cross-inoculation group. Thus, we define several groups of R. trifolii based upon their EPS structures and establish their similarities and distinct differences with the EPS of R. leguminosarum.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)     

Nitrogen fixation ability of exopolysaccharide synthesis mutants of Rhizobium sp. strain NGR234 and Rhizobium trifolii is restored by the addition of homologous exopolysaccharides.

Several transposon Tn5-induced mutants of the broad-host-range Rhizobium sp. strain NGR234 produce little or no detectable acidic exopolysaccharide (EPS) and are unable to induce nitrogen-fixing nodules on Leucaena leucocephala var. Peru or siratro plants. The ability of these Exo- mutants to induce functioning nodules on Leucaena plants was restored by coinoculation with a Sym plasmid-cured (Nod- Exo+) derivative of parent strain NGR234, purified EPS from the parent strain, or the oligosaccharide from the EPS. Coinoculation with EPS or related oligosaccharide also resulted in formation of nitrogen-fixing nodules on siratro plants. In addition, an Exo- mutant (ANU437) of Rhizobium trifolii ANU794 was able to form nitrogen-fixing nodules on white clover in the presence of added EPS or related oligosaccharide from R. trifolii ANU843. These results demonstrate that the absence of Rhizobium EPSs can result in failure of effective symbiosis with both temperate and subtropical legumes.