Project description:Some legume plants can establish a nitrogen-fixing symbiosis with rhizobia. Compatibilty between rhizobia and legumes is determined at species-specific level, but there are variations on the efficiency of the process determined by the capacity of the plant to select specific strains that are better partners in terms of the biological outcome. In this work we used a model system based in the coevolution of two genetic pools of common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) with strains of R. etli that establish a more efficient interaction to study the transcriptional changes occurring in roots at an early time of the interaction.
Project description:Rhizobia are soil bacteria that induce nodule formation on leguminous plants. In the nodules, they reduce dinitrogen to ammonium that can be utilized by plants. Besides nitrogen fixation, rhizobia have other symbiotic functions in plants including phosphorus and iron mobilization and protection of the plants against various abiotic stresses including salinity. Worldwide, about 20% of cultivable and 33% of irrigation land is saline, and it is estimated that around 50% of the arable land will be saline by 2050. Salinity inhibits plant growth and development, results in senescence, and ultimately plant death. The purpose of this study was to investigate how rhizobia, isolated from Kenyan soils, relieve common beans from salinity stress. The yield loss of common bean plants, which were either not inoculated or inoculated with the commercial R. tropici rhizobia CIAT899 was reduced by 73% when the plants were exposed to 300 mM NaCl, while only 60% yield loss was observed after inoculation with a novel indigenous isolate from Kenyan soil, named S3. Expression profiles showed that genes involved in the transport of mineral ions (such as K+, Ca2+, Fe3+, PO43-, and NO3-) to the host plant, and for the synthesis and transport of osmotolerance molecules (soluble carbohydrates, amino acids, and nucleotides) are highly expressed in S3 bacteroids during salt stress than in the controls. Furthermore, genes for the synthesis and transport of glutathione and γ-aminobutyric acid were upregulated in salt-stressed and S3-inocculated common bean plants. We conclude that microbial osmolytes, mineral ions, and antioxidant molecules from rhizobia enhance salt tolerance in common beans.
2022-10-31 | GSE216374 | GEO
Project description:Endophytic microbiome of common bean seeds
Project description:To dissect the gene regulatory networks operating during Scarlet Runner Bean seed development, we identified the binding sites genome-wide for transcription factor in Scarlet Runner Bean seeds during seed development using ChIP-seq
Project description:To understand the molecular basis for differences of common bean wild-type and mutant in sulphur amino acid content, transcripts were profiled at four developmental stages of seeds from wild-type SARC1 and major seed storage protein-deficient line SMARC1N-PN1 using a CustomArray 90K array. Microarray data confirmed that transcripts of storage and sulphur-rich proteins and sulphur-metabolism related genes were differentially expressed between the lines. The common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) mutant line, SMARC1N-PN1 and its wild type, SARC1 used in the microarray experiment were grown in the field in London, ON, in 2009. Four developmental stages of seeds, based on fresh seed weight, were harvested. The stages of seeds used are Stage IV M-bM-^@M-^S cotyledon, 25 mg seed weight; Stage V M-bM-^@M-^S cotyledon, 50 mg seed weight; Stage VI M-bM-^@M-^S maturation, 150 mg seed weight, corresponding to the most active phase of reserve accumulation; and Stage VIII M-bM-^@M-^S maturation, 380 mg seed weight, corresponding to the onset of desiccation, were harvested for total RNA extraction. Four biological replicates for Stage IV and V and 3 biological replicates for Stage VI and VIII.
Project description:Abiotic stresses disturb and limit nitrogen-fixing symbioses between rhizobia and their host legumes. In particular, the effect of extracellular acidity on rhizobia has been taken as a model example for analysis because of the economic impact and worldwide distribution of these symbionts in agricultural countries. Except for valuable molecular-biological studies on different rhizobia, no consolidated models have been formulated to describe the central physiologic changes that occur in acid-stressed bacteria. We present here an integrated analysis entailing the main cultural, metabolic, and molecular responses of the model bacterium Sinorhizobium meliloti growing under controlled acid stress in a chemostat. A stepwise extracellular acidification of the culture medium had indicated that S. meliloti stopped growing at ca. pH 6.0â??6.1. Under such a limiting acid stress the rhizobia increased the O2 consumption per cell by more than 5-fold. This phenotype, together with an increase in the transcripts for several membrane cytochromes, entails a remarkably higher aerobic-respiration rate in acid-stressed rhizobia. Changes in the transcripts encoding enzymes for lipid biosynthesis were also observed, consistent with previous data on rhizobial pH-dependent membrane remodelling. Together with increased energy demands under acidity, proteomic and transcriptomic data revealed that while at pH 7.0 the transport and biosynthesis of cellular compounds were quite active processes, under acid stress most overexpressed markers were associated with protein biosynthesis, macromolecular degradation and/or recycling, and energy metabolism. Within this context, the pentose-phosphate pathway exhibited increases in several transcripts, enzymes, and metabolites. Moreover, multivariate analysis of global metabolome data (more than 60 compounds) served to unequivocally correlate the specific-metabolite profiles with the extracellular pH for growth, with strikingly sensitive variations being observed in the rhizobial metabolomes upon extracellular-pH changes of less than 0.5 units. Except for a ca. 120-kb DNA stretch within the pSymA no specific genomic regions were associated with the observed acid-stress responses. Further practical analyses should be focussed on the phenotypic impact and time course of the observed changes during the acid-stress perception and on the search for common responses during the previously described sublethal acid-adaptive processes in rhizobia pH 6.1 vs pH 7