Abstract
Bacteria of the genus Rhizobium fix nitrogen in symbiotic association with legumes such as clover, pea and bean. If the efficiency of this plant–bacterium relationship is to be improved or the host range of the rhizobia extended, the genes involved in the symbiosis must first be identified and localized. Accumulating genetic and biochemical data support the proposal that genes on a large plasmid1 are involved in root nodulation, in analogy with the Ti genes of Agrobacterium tumefaciens, which is closely related to the fast-growing species of Rhizobium2,4 (for reviews, see refs 5, 6). Although most of the data concern Rhizobium leguminosarum7–11, some deal with Rhizobium trifolii12–14, which associates with clover. We report here that one particular plasmid in R. trifolii—which we call Sym(biosis) plasmid—not only determines host specificity, but also controls several, if not most, other steps leading to root nodule formation and nitrogen fixation on clover roots.
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Hooykaas, P., van Brussel, A., den Dulk-Ras, H. et al. Sym plasmid of Rhizobium trifolii expressed in different rhizobial species and Agrobacterium tumefaciens. Nature 291, 351–353 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1038/291351a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/291351a0
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