Legumes Modulate Allocation to Rhizobial Nitrogen Fixation in Response to Factorial Light and Nitrogen Manipulation.

ABSTRACT: The costs and benefits that define gain from trade in resource mutualisms depend on resource availability. Optimal partitioning theory predicts that allocation to direct uptake versus trade will be determined by both the relative benefit of the resource acquired through trade and the relative cost of the resource being traded away. While the costs and benefits of carbon:nitrogen exchange in the legume-rhizobia symbiosis have been examined in depth with regards to mineral nitrogen availability, the effects of varying carbon costs are rarely considered. Using a growth chamber experiment, we measured plant growth and symbiosis investment in the model legume Medicago truncatula and its symbiont Ensifer medicae across varying nitrogen and light environments. We demonstrate

SUBMITTER: Friel CA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6848274 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature