Resource acquisition and allocation traits in symbiotic rhizobia with implications for life-history outside of legume hosts.

ABSTRACT: Resources that microbial symbionts obtain from hosts may enhance fitness during free-living stages when resources are comparatively scarce. For rhizobia in legume root nodules, diverting resources from nitrogen fixation to polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) has been discussed as a source of host-symbiont conflict. Yet, little is known about natural variation in PHB storage and its implications for rhizobial evolution. We therefore measured phenotypic variation in natural rhizobia populations and investigated how PHB might contribute to fitness in the free-living stage. We found that natural populations of rhizobia from Glycine max and Chamaecrista fasciculata had substantial, heritable variation in PHB acquisition during symbiosis. A model simulating temperature-dependent metabolic ac

SUBMITTER: Muller KE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6304121 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature