Host plant peptides elicit a transcriptional response to control the Sinorhizobium meliloti cell cycle during symbiosis.

ABSTRACT: The α-proteobacterium Sinorhizobium meliloti establishes a chronic intracellular infection during the symbiosis with its legume hosts. Within specialized host cells, S. meliloti differentiates into highly polyploid, enlarged nitrogen-fixing bacteroids. This differentiation is driven by host cells through the production of defensin-like peptides called "nodule-specific cysteine-rich" (NCR) peptides. Recent research has shown that synthesized NCR peptides exhibit antimicrobial activity at high concentrations but cause bacterial endoreduplication at sublethal concentrations. We leveraged synchronized S. meliloti populations to determine how treatment with a sublethal NCR peptide affects the cell cycle and physiology of bacteria at the molecular level. We found that at sublethal levels a repre

SUBMITTER: Penterman J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3948309 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature