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Interspecies homology of nodulation genes in Rhizobium

Plant Molecular Biology volume 8, pages 61–75 (1987)Cite this article

Summary

The internal structural portion of genes nodC and nodD (representatives of the two transcription units coding for common nodulation functions) and of hsnB and hsnD (genes from the two transcription units determining host-specificity of nodulation) have been cloned from Rhizobium meliloti into M13 vectors and used as probes against genomic DNAs from different Rhizobium strains and species. nodC and nodD were found in all species with one exception, indicating that they are common and widely spread genes, though the nodD gene hybridized only very weakly with slow-growing rhizobia. Interestingly, reiteration of nodD sequences was observed in almost all fast-growing strains (with the exception of R. leguminosarum). hsnB and, more so, hsnD are present only in a few species tested, supporting their specific involvement in R. meliloti-Medicago sativa symbiosis. In several cases the hybridizing bands from total Rhizobium DNA were compared to those found in recombinant plasmids carrying functional nodulation regions, and these analyses supported the notion that the bands indicate the presence of functional genes.

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Author notes

  1. Francisco Rodriguez-Quinones & Adam Kondorosi

    Present address: Microbiology Department, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Seville, Seville, Spain

Affiliations

  1. Department of Genetics, Biological Research Center, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 521, H-6701, Szeged, Hungary

    Francisco Rodriguez-Quinones, Zsofia Banfalvi & Adam Kondorosi

  2. Abt. Schell, Max-Planck Institut für Zuchtungsforschung, D-5000, Köln 30, F.R.G.

    Peter Murphy

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  1. Francisco Rodriguez-Quinones
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  2. Zsofia Banfalvi
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  3. Peter Murphy
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  4. Adam Kondorosi
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Rodriguez-Quinones, F., Banfalvi, Z., Murphy, P. et al. Interspecies homology of nodulation genes in Rhizobium . Plant Mol Biol 8, 61–75 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00016435

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00016435

Keywords

  • host-specific nodulation genes
  • nod gene homology
  • Rhizobium
  • symbiotic genes