Dataset Information

Differential responses of the sunn4 and rdn1-1 super-nodulation mutants of Medicago truncatula to elevated atmospheric CO2.

ABSTRACT:

Background and aims

Nitrogen fixation in legumes requires tight control of carbon and nitrogen balance. Thus, legumes control nodule numbers via an autoregulation mechanism. 'Autoregulation of nodulation' mutants super-nodulate are thought to be carbon-limited due to the high carbon-sink strength of excessive nodules. This study aimed to examine the effect of increasing carbon supply on the performance of super-nodulation mutants.

Methods

We compared the responses of Medicago truncatula super-nodulation mutants (sunn-4 and rdn1-1) and wild type to five CO2 levels (300-850 μmol mol-1). Nodule formation and nitrogen fixation were assessed in soil-grown plants at 18 and 42 d after sowing.

Key results

Shoot and root biomass, nodule number and biomass, nitrogenase activity and fixed nitrogen per plant of all genotypes increased with increasing CO2 concentration and reached a maximum at 700 μmol mol-1. While the sunn-4 mutant showed strong growth retardation compared with wild-type plants, elevated CO2 increased shoot biomass and total nitrogen content of the rdn1-1 mutant up to 2-fold. This was accompanied by a 4-fold increase in nitrogen fixation capacity in the rdn1-1 mutant.

Conclusions

These results suggest that the super-nodulation phenotype per se did not limit growth. The additional nitrogen fixation capacity of the rdn1-1 mutant may enhance the benefit of elevated CO2 for plant growth and N2 fixation.

SUBMITTER: Qiao Y

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8414924 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Similar Datasets

Project description:Soil microorganisms play a key role in both plants nutrition and health. Their relation with plant varies from mutualism to parasitism, according to the balance of costs and benefits for the two partners of the interaction. These interactions involved the liberation of plant organic compounds via rhizodeposition. Modification of atmospheric CO(2) concentration may affect rhizodeposition and as a consequence trophic interactions that bind plants and microorganisms. Positive effect of elevated CO(2) on plants are rather well known but consequences for micoorganisms and their interactions with plants are still poorly understood. A gnotobiotic system has been developed to study the interaction between Medicago truncatula Jemalong J5 and the mutualistic bacteria Pseudomonas fluorescens strain C7R12 under two atmospheric CO(2) concentrations: ambient (365 ppm) versus enriched (750 ppm). Costs and benefits for each partner have been determined over time by measuring plant development and growth, the C and N contents of the various plant parts and the density of the bacteria in rhizosphere compartments. Following the increase in CO(2), there was a beneficial effect of P. fluorescens C7R12 on development, vegetative growth, and C/N content of M. truncatula. Concerning plant reproduction, an early seed production was noticed in presence of the bacterial strain combined with increased atmospheric CO(2) conditions. Paradoxically, this transient increase in seed production was correlated with a decrease in bacterial density in the rhizosphere soil, revealing a cost of increased CO(2) for the bacterial strain. This shift of costs-benefits ratio disappeared later during the plant growth. In conclusion, the increase in CO(2) concentration modifies transiently the cost-benefit balance in favor of the plant. These results may be explained either by a competition between the two partners or a change in bacterial physiology. The ecosystem functioning depends on the stability of many plant-microbe associations that abiotic factors can disrupt.

Project description:BACKGROUND: Parasitic angiosperm Orobanche crenata infection represents a major constraint for the cultivation of legumes worldwide. The level of protection achieved to date is either incomplete or ephemeral. Hence, an efficient control of the parasite requires a better understanding of its interaction and associated resistance mechanisms at molecular levels. RESULTS: In order to study the plant response to this parasitic plant and the molecular basis of the resistance we have used a proteomic approach. The root proteome of two accessions of the model legume Medicago truncatula displaying differences in their resistance phenotype, in control as well as in inoculated plants, over two time points (21 and 25 days post infection), has been compared. We report quantitative as well as qualitative differences in the 2-DE maps between early- (SA 27774) and late-resistant (SA 4087) genotypes after Coomassie and silver-staining: 69 differential spots were observed between non-inoculated genotypes, and 42 and 25 spots for SA 4087 and SA 27774 non-inoculated and inoculated plants, respectively. In all, 49 differential spots were identified by peptide mass fingerprinting (PMF) following MALDI-TOF/TOF mass spectrometry. Many of the proteins showing significant differences between genotypes and after parasitic infection belong to the functional category of defense and stress-related proteins. A number of spots correspond to proteins with the same function, and might represent members of a multigenic family or post-transcriptional forms of the same protein. CONCLUSION: The results obtained suggest the existence of a generic defense mechanism operating during the early stages of infection and differing in both genotypes. The faster response to the infection observed in the SA 27774 genotype might be due to the action of proteins targeted against key elements needed for the parasite's successful infection, such as protease inhibitors. Our data are discussed and compared with those previously obtained with pea 1 and transcriptomic analysis of other plant-pathogen and plant-parasitic plant systems.