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Ethiopian soils harbor natural populations of rhizobia that form symbioses with common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.)

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Abstract

<p>The diversity and taxonomic relationships of 83 bean-nodulating rhizobia indigenous to Ethiopian soils were characterized by PCR-RFLP of the internally transcribed spacer (ITS) region between the 16S and 23S rRNA genes, 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis, multilocus enzyme electrophoresis (MLEE), and amplified fragment-length polymorphism. The isolates fell into 13 distinct genotypes according to PCR-RFLP analysis of the ITS region. Based on MLEE, the majority of these genotypes (70%) was genetically related to the type strain of Rhizobium leguminosarum. However, from analysis of their 16S rRNA genes, the majority was placed with Rhizobium etli. Transfer and recombination of the 16S rRNA gene from presumptively introduced R. etli to local R. leguminosarum is a possible theory to explain these contrasting results. However, it seems unlikely that bean rhizobia originating from the Americas (or Europe) extensively colonized soils of Ethiopia because Rhizobium tropici, Rhizobium gallicum, and Rhizobium giardinii were not detected and only a single ineffective isolate of R. etli that originated from a remote location was identified. Therefore, Ethiopian R. leguminosarum may have acquired the determinants for nodulation of bean from a low number of introduced bean-nodulating rhizobia that either are poor competitors for nodulation of bean or that failed to survive in the Ethiopian environment. Furthermore, it may be concluded from the genetic data presented here that the evidence for separating R. leguminosarum and R. etli into two separate species is inconclusive.

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Acknowledgements

We especially thank the Institute of Agricultural Research for supplying the soil samples used in the study. We also thank K. Lee Nash and Patrick Elia for expert technical assistance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Biochemistry Department, Howard University, Washington DC, USA

    Desta Beyene & Amha Asseffa

  2. Biology Department, Howard University, Washington DC, USA

    Serawit Kassa & Franklin Ampy

  3. Ethiopian Agricultural Research Organization (EARO), Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

    Tadesse Gebremedhin

  4. Soybean Genomics and Improvement Laboratory, USDA, 10300 Baltimore Blvd., ARS, Bldg 010, BARC-West, HH-4, Beltsville, MD 20705, USA

    Peter van Berkum

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  1. Desta Beyene
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  2. Serawit Kassa
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  4. Amha Asseffa
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  5. Tadesse Gebremedhin
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  6. Peter van Berkum
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Correspondence to Peter van Berkum.

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Beyene, D., Kassa, S., Ampy, F. et al. Ethiopian soils harbor natural populations of rhizobia that form symbioses with common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.). Arch Microbiol 181, 129–136 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00203-003-0636-2

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