Project description:During the legume-rhizobium symbiosis, free-living soil bacteria known as rhizobia trigger the formation of root nodules. The rhizobia infect these organs and adopt an intracellular lifestyle within the symbiotic nodule cells where they become nitrogen-fixing bacteroids. Several legume lineages enforce their symbionts into an extreme cellular differentiation, comprising cell enlargement and genome endoreduplication. The antimicrobial peptide transporter BclA is a major determinant of this differentiation process in Bradyrhizobium sp. ORS285, a symbiont of Aeschynomene spp.. In the absence of BclA, Bradyrhizobium sp. ORS285 proceeds until the intracellular infection of nodule cells but the bacteria cannot differentiate into enlarged polyploid bacteroids and fix nitrogen. The nodule bacteria of the bclA mutant constitute thus an intermediate stage between the free-living soil bacteria and the intracellular nitrogen-fixing bacteroids. Metabolomics on whole nodules of Aeschynomene afraspera and Aeschynomene indica infected with the ORS285 wild type or the bclA mutant revealed 47 metabolites that differentially accumulated concomitantly with bacteroid differentiation. Bacterial transcriptome analysis of these nodules discriminated nodule-induced genes that are specific to differentiated and nitrogen-fixing bacteroids and others that are activated in the host microenvironment irrespective of bacterial differentiation and nitrogen fixation. These analyses demonstrated that the intracellular settling of the rhizobia in the symbiotic nodule cells is accompanied with a first transcriptome switch involving several hundreds of upregulated and downregulated genes and a second switch accompanying the bacteroid differentiation, involving less genes but that are expressed to extremely elevated levels. The transcriptomes further highlighted the dynamics of oxygen and redox regulation of gene expression during nodule formation and we discovered that bclA represses the expression of non-ribosomal peptide synthetase gene clusters suggesting a non-symbiotic function of BclA. Together, our data uncover the metabolic and gene expression changes that accompany the transition from intracellular bacteria into differentiated nitrogen-fixing bacteroids.
Project description:To circumvent the paucity of nitrogen sources in the soil Legume plants evolved a symbiotic interaction with nitrogen-fixing soil bacteria called rhizobia. During symbiosis, legumes form root organs called nodules, where bacteria are housed intracellularly and become active nitrogen fixers known as bacteroids. Depending on their host plant, bacteroids can adopt different morphotypes, being either unmodified (U), elongated (E) or spherical (S). E- and S-typr bacteroids undergo a terminal differentiation leading to irreversible morphological changes and DNA endoreduplication. Previous studies suggest that differentiated bacteroids display an increased symbiotic efficiency (E>U & S>U). In this study, we used a combination of Aeschynomene species inducing E- and S-type bacteroids in symbiosis with Bradyrhizobium sp. ORS285 to show that S- performed better than E-type bacteroids. Thus, we performed a transcriptomic analysis on E- and S-type bacteroids to identify the bacterial functions involved in each bacteroid type.
Project description:Rhizoleucinoside (1), a unique rhamnolipid-amino alcohol hybrid, was isolated from the rhizobial symbiont bacterium Bradyrhizobium sp. BTAi1. Compound 1 features a rare rhamnolipid core attached to an unprecedented leucinol moiety. Its structure and absolute configuration were determined by spectroscopic analysis, tandem mass spectrometry, chemical degradation, and application of the Marfey's method. Compound 1 possesses moderate cytotoxicity to BV-2 murine microglia and highly aggressive proliferating immortalized (HAPI) rat microglia cells.
Project description:Model endophyte Azoarcus sp. BH72 is known to contribute fixed nitrogen to its host Kallar grass by nitrogen fixation and also expresses nitrogenase genes endophytically in rice seedlings in gnotobiotic culture. Availability of fixed nitrogen is one of the important signals regulating the transcription of nitrogenase genes and hence nitrogen fixing activity. Therefore, we analysed global transcription in response to differences in the nitrogen source. Transcription profiles of cells grown microaerobically (0.6% oxygen) on minimal medium with nitrogen (N2-fixing) versus ammonium (combined nitrogen) were compared using a genome-wide microarray approach and differences in the gene expression profile were monitored.
Project description:Azoarcus sp. BH72 is known to express nitrogenase genes endophytically in rice seedlings in gnotobiotic culture. Availability of fixed nitrogen is one of the important signals regulating the transcription of nitrogenase genes and hence nitrogen fixing activity. NifA is the essential transcription activator of nif genes. RNA isolated from the nifA knockout mutant of strain BH72 was compared with the transcriptome of wild type under nitrogen fixing condition using a global genome wide microarray approach and the differences in the gene expression profile were monitered.
Project description:Transcriptional profiling of a unicelluar diazotrophic cyanobacterium Cyanothece sp. ATCC 51142 in constant light under nitrogen fixing condition. The controls comprised of equimolar pool of RNA from all time points. Cyanothece sp. ATCC 51142 was grown in BG-11 medium without nitrate. The culture was entrained under 12 h alternate light/dark cycles for 96 h and released in constant light (LL). Nine samples were for two consecutive cycles under LL, at times when the culture underwent transitions in its photosynthetic and respiratory phases, as indicated by the exit CO2 and O2 profiles. Two biological replicates, two technical replicates and a dye swap were analyzed for each sample from individual time points.
Project description:Azoarcus sp. BH72 is known to express nitrogenase genes endophytically in rice seedlings in gnotobiotic culture. Availability of fixed nitrogen is one of the important signals regulating the transcription of nitrogenase genes and hence nitrogen fixing activity. NifA is the essential transcription activator of nif genes. RNA isolated from the nifA knockout mutant of strain BH72 was compared with the transcriptome of wild type under nitrogen fixing condition using a global genome wide microarray approach and the differences in the gene expression profile were monitered. RNA isolated from wild type strain BH72 and nifLA mutant strain BHLAO grown respectively under microaerobic nitrogen fixing condition with glutamate as poor nitrogen source was used for two color whole genome microarray approach
