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Disparate role of rhizobial ACC deaminase in root-nodule symbioses

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Abstract

The enzyme 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate (ACC) deaminase converts ACC, a precursor of the plant hormone ethylene, into ammonia and α-ketobutyrate. ACC deaminase is widespread among the rhizobia in which it might play a crucial role in protecting rhizobia against inhibitory effects of ethylene synthesized by the host plant in response to the nodulation process. The beneficial action of this enzyme was demonstrated in several rhizobia such as Mesorhizobium loti and Rhizobium leguminosarum where knock-out mutants of the ACC deaminase gene showed nodulation defects. The genome of the slow-growing rhizobial species Bradyrhizobium japonicum also carries an annotated gene for a putative ACC deaminase (blr0241). Here, we tested the possible importance of this enzyme in B. japonicum by constructing an insertion mutant of blr0241 and studying its phenotype. First, the activity of ACC deaminase itself was measured. Unlike the B. japonicum wild type, the blr0241 mutant did not show any enzymatic activity. By contrast, the mutant was not impaired in its ability to nodulate soybean, cowpea, siratro, and mungbean. Likewise, symbiotic nitrogen fixation activity remained unaffected. Furthermore, a co-inoculation assay with the B. japonicum wild type and the blr0241 mutant for soybean and siratro nodulation revealed that the mutant was not affected in its competitiveness for nodulation and nodule occupation. The results show that the role previously ascribed to ACC deaminase in the rhizobia cannot be generalized, and species-specific differences may exist.

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Acknowledgments

Financial support for this work was provided by the Swiss National Science Foundation and the ETH Zürich. We thank Dieter Haas for alerting us to the broad substrate specificity of ACC deaminase.

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  1. Institute of Microbiology, ETH Zürich, Wolfgang-Pauli-Strasse 10, 8093, Zürich, Switzerland

    Valérie Murset & Hauke Hennecke

  2. Institute of Plant Biology, University of Zürich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057, Zürich, Switzerland

    Gabriella Pessi

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  1. Valérie Murset
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  2. Hauke Hennecke
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Correspondence to Valérie Murset.

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Murset, V., Hennecke, H. & Pessi, G. Disparate role of rhizobial ACC deaminase in root-nodule symbioses. Symbiosis 57, 43–50 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13199-012-0177-z

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