Abstract
The symbiosis between bacteria of the genus Rhizobium and their leguminous host plants results in the formation of root nodules in a species-specific way, in that a particular bacterial species can nodulate only a limited number of host species. In fast-growing Rhizobium species many nodulation (nod) genes, including the functional interchangeable or common nod genes nodA,B,C,I,J and nodD and the host-specificity genes nodE.F, are localized on large Sym (for symbiosis) plasmids1–5. On the Rhizobium meliloti Sym plasmid three nodD genes have been localized. Two of these, nodD1 and nodD2, are required for efficient nodulation of the host plant (ref 6 and M. Honma, personal communication). Exudates of leguminous plants induce the expression of several Sym-plasmid-localized nod operons7–10, a process in which the constitutively expressed nodD product is supposed to act as a positive regulator8,9. The inducing compounds found in these exudates have been identified as flavones, flavanones or closely related compounds11–14. We report here that the nodD products of the various fast-growing Rhizobium species differ from each other in that they confer different responsiveness, in a species-specific way, to different sets of flavonoids and exudates. Moreover, in one case, the nodD gene was shown to be a determinant of host-specific nodulation.
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Spaink, H., Wijffelman, C., Pees, E. et al. Rhizobium nodulation gene nodD as a determinant of host specificity. Nature 328, 337–340 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1038/328337a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/328337a0
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