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Specific occurrence of β-phenethylamine in root nodules formed from Bradyrhizobium-legume symbiosis

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Abstract

The aromatic amine, β-phenethylamine, was identified in various field-grown leguminous plants by analyses with HPLC, GC, GC-MS and 1H-NMR. High concentration of β-phenethylamine was generally detected only in mature root nodules, but not in other plant organs such as root, stem, leaf, pod and grain. Occurrence was specific to the root nodules formed by Bradyrhizobium infection. Ten of eleven legume crops including soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.], pigeon pea [Cajanus cajan (L.) Millsp.], adzuki bean (Vigna angularis), mung bean [V. radiata (L.) Wilczek] and cowpea (V. unguiculata) contained this aromatic amine, but groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) also nodulated by Bradyrhizobium sp. did not. Root nodules collected from garden pea (Pisum sativum L.), broad bean (Vicia fava L.), kidney bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) and various other herbaceous legumes nodulated by Rhizobium sp., Mesorhizobium sp., Sinorhizobium sp. or Azorhizobium caulinodans, and root-nodulated, woody non-legumes, nodulated by Frankia spp., contained little β-phenethylamine.

The amount of β-phenethylamine in Bradyrhizobium-infected nodules varied with the legume species and their cultivars, and most significantly, with nodule age. In field-grown soybean plants, nodule β-phenethylamine attained maximum concentration at the flowering stage and far exceeded that of the major polyamines of soybean nodules, putrescine and spermidine.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Plant Nutrition Diagnosis, National Agricultural Research Center, Kannondai 3-1-1, Tsukuba, 305-8666, Japan

    Shinsuke Fujihara & Junko Terakado

  2. Soil Science Laboratory, National Agricultural Research Center for Hokkaido Region, Hitsujigaoka-1, Sapporo, 062-8555, Japan

    Makoto Takenaka

  3. Department of Applied Biological Chemistry, The University of Tokyo, Yayoi 1-1-1, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-8657, Japan

    Tadakatsu Yoneyama

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  1. Shinsuke Fujihara
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  2. Junko Terakado
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  3. Makoto Takenaka
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  4. Tadakatsu Yoneyama
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Fujihara, S., Terakado, J., Takenaka, M. et al. Specific occurrence of β-phenethylamine in root nodules formed from Bradyrhizobium-legume symbiosis. Plant and Soil 238, 123–132 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1014232305742

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