Phenotype profiling of Rhizobium leguminosarum bv. trifolii clover nodule isolates reveal their both versatile and specialized metabolic capabilities.

ABSTRACT: Rhizobium leguminosarum bv. trifolii (Rlt) are soil bacteria inducing nodules on clover, where they fix nitrogen. Genome organization analyses of 22 Rlt clover nodule isolates showed that they contained 3-6 plasmids and majority of them possessed large (>1 Mb), chromid-like replicon with exception of four Rlt strains. The Biolog phenotypic profiling comprising utilization of C, N, P, and S sources and tolerance to osmolytes and pH revealed metabolic versatility of the Rlt strains. Statistical analyses of our results showed a clear bias toward specific metabolic preferences, tolerance to unfavorable osmotic conditions, and increased nodulation activity of the strains having smaller amount of extrachromosomal DNA. The K5.4 and K4.15 lacking a large megaplasmid possessed substantially diverse

SUBMITTER: Mazur A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3597991 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature