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Unique community structure and biogeography of soybean rhizobia in the saline-alkaline soils of Xinjiang, China

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Abstract

To investigate the community composition and biogeography of soybean rhizobia in Xinjiang, a total of 151 strains were investigated with RFLP and phylogenetic analyses of 16S rRNA gene, 16S–23S intergenic spacer, three housekeeping genes (atpD, glnII and recA), and two symbiotic genes (nifH and nodC), as well as cross-nodulation. Two rhizobial species, Bradyrhizobium liaoningense and Sinorhizobium fredii, were found as dominant groups in communities of soybean rhizobia in Xinjiang, whereas three Rhizobium genomic species, B. yuanmingense and B. japonicum, were minor groups. These genomic species showed clear correlations with eco-regions, and their symbiotic genes were identical or very similar to those of the reference strains for the corresponding species. Conclusively, the dominant soybean rhizobia S. fredii and B. liaoningense in Xinjiang might be introduced from other Chinese regions, but they have been selected as the rhizobia adapted to the saline-alkaline soils. The high pH, salinity, and phosphate concentration in soil might be the environmental factors determining the biogeography of these bacteria. It is worth mentioning that a novel Rhizobium species that may have acquired the symbiotic genes from a Bradyrhizobium lineage was identified.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Geng Tong Luo and Jian Jun Wei in Academy of Xinjiang Agricultural Settlement for providing seeds and helping to collect nodules. This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (project no. 30670001 and 30400001), National Basic Research Program of China (2006CB100206, 2006AA10A213) and National Program for Basic S & T Platform Construction (2005DKA21201-2). E.T.W. was supported by the grants of SIP 20070538 and SIP 20080322 authorized by IPN, Mexico.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratories for Agro-biotechnology/College of Biological Sciences, China Agricultural University, 100094, Beijing, China

    Li Li Han, En Tao Wang, Tian Xu Han, Xin Hua Sui, Wen Feng Chen & Wen Xin Chen

  2. Departamento de Microbiología, Escuela Nacional de Ciencias Biológicas, Instituto Politécnico Nacional, 11340, México D. F., México

    En Tao Wang

  3. Department of Biological and Pharmaceutical Engineering, College of Chemical Engineering, Qingdao University of Science and Technology, 266042, Qingdao, China

    Jie Liu

  4. National Institute of Biological Sciences, Zhongguancun Life Science Park, No. 7 Science Park Road, 102206, Beijing, China

    Tian Xu Han

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  1. Li Li Han
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Correspondence to Wen Xin Chen.

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Responsible Editor: Katharina Pawlowski.

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Supplementary Figure A

Dendrogram showing the genetic diversity of Xinjiang oybean rhizobia revealed by RFLP of amplified 16S rRNA gene. The Dice coefficient and UPGMA method were used for clustering analysis. (PPT 237 kb)

Supplementary Figure B

Simplified dendrogram showing the genetic diversity of Xinjiang soybean rhizobia revealed by ribosomal IGS RFLP. The Dice coefficient and UPGMA method were used for clustering analysis. (PPT 106 kb)

Supplementary Figure C

Dendrogram showing the genetic diversity of Xinjiang soybean rhizobia revealed by PCR-based nodC RFLP. The Dice coefficient and UPGMA method were used for clustering. (PPT 200 kb)

Supplementary Figure D

Neighbor-joining tree of nifH gene showing the phylogenetic relationships among the Xinjiang soybean rhizobia. The trees are bootstrapped with 1000 subreplicates and the confidence levels greater than 50% are indicated at the internodes. The scale bar represents 2% substitutions per site. (PPT 110 kb)

Supplementary Table A

Bacterial strains used in this study, their relevant characters and sampling sites (DOC 90 kb)

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Han, L.L., Wang, E.T., Han, T.X. et al. Unique community structure and biogeography of soybean rhizobia in the saline-alkaline soils of Xinjiang, China. Plant Soil 324, 291–305 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-009-9956-6

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