Pangenome Evolution Reconciles Robustness and Instability of Rhizobial Symbiosis.

ABSTRACT: Root nodulating rhizobia are nearly ubiquitous in soils and provide the critical service of nitrogen fixation to thousands of legume species, including staple crops. However, the magnitude of fixed nitrogen provided to hosts varies markedly among rhizobia strains, despite host legumes having mechanisms to selectively reward beneficial strains and to punish ones that do not fix sufficient nitrogen. Variation in the services of microbial mutualists is considered paradoxical given host mechanisms to select beneficial genotypes. Moreover, the recurrent evolution of non-fixing symbiont genotypes is predicted to destabilize symbiosis, but breakdown has rarely been observed. Here, we deconstructed hundreds of genome sequences from genotypically and phenotypically diverse Bradyrhizobium str

SUBMITTER: Weisberg AJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9239051 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature