Abstract
Symbiotic nitrogen fixation (SNF) by rhizobium, a Gram-negative soil bacterium, is an essential component in the nitrogen cycle and is a sustainable green way to maintain soil fertility without chemical energy consumption. SNF, which results from the processes of nodulation, rhizobial infection, bacteroid differentiation and nitrogen-fixing reaction, requires the expression of various genes from both symbionts with adaptation to the changing environment. To achieve successful nitrogen fixation, rhizobia and their hosts cooperate closely for precise regulation of symbiotic genes, metabolic processes and internal environment homeostasis. Many researches have progressed to reveal the ample information about regulatory aspects of SNF during recent decades, but the major bottlenecks regarding improvement of nitrogen-fixing efficiency has proven to be complex. In this mini-review, we summarize recent advances that have contributed to understanding the rhizobial regulatory aspects that determine SNF efficiency, focusing on the coordinated regulatory mechanism of symbiotic genes, oxygen, carbon metabolism, amino acid metabolism, combined nitrogen, non-coding RNAs and internal environment homeostasis. Unraveling regulatory determinants of SNF in the nitrogen-fixing protagonist rhizobium is expected to promote an improvement of nitrogen-fixing efficiency in crop production.
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Data availability
The data sets generated and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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We thank the Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province and Taizhou Science and Technology Bureau for their funding support to this article.
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This work was funded by the Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province (Grant No. LQ20C010003) and Taizhou Science and Technology Bureau (grant no. 22nya12).
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Li, X., Li, Z. What determines symbiotic nitrogen fixation efficiency in rhizobium: recent insights into Rhizobium leguminosarum. Arch Microbiol 205, 300 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00203-023-03640-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00203-023-03640-7