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Tolerance of Mesorhizobium type strains to different environmental stresses

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Abstract

The symbiosis between rhizobia and legumes is affected by different environmental conditions. Our aims were to evaluate stress tolerance of Mesorhizobium species and investigate species-specific stress response mechanisms. Tolerance of Mesorhizobium type strains to temperature, salt and pH stress was evaluated. Mesorhizobium thiogangeticum showed highest growth with 1.5% NaCl and Mesorhizobium ciceri at pH 5. Mesorhizobium plurifarium showed higher growth at 37°C. SDS-PAGE analysis revealed changes in the protein profiles, namely the overexpression of a 60 kDa protein, following heat stress. Under salt stress, five overexpressed proteins were identified in M. plurifarium and M. thiogangeticum. Northern analysis revealed an increase in groEL expression in Mesorhizobium huakuii and Mesorhizobium septentrionale after heat shock; by contrast, a decrease was detected in Mesorhizobium albiziae and M. thiogangeticum, upon salt shock. A high diversity in tolerance to temperature, salt and pH stress was detected among Mesorhizobium species. M. thiogangeticum and M. ciceri are moderately halophilic and acidophilic, respectively. Several proteins, overproduced in different strains, may be involved in stress tolerance. groEL expression increased upon heat and decreased upon salt shock. To our knowledge, this is the first study focusing tolerance to temperature, salt and pH stress, as well as groEL expression, in Mesorhizobium type strains.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by project (PTDC/BIO/80932/2006) from Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) and co-financed by EU-FEDER through Programme POCI 2010. M. Laranjo acknowledges a Post-Doc fellowship (SFRH/BPD/27008/2006) from FCT.

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  1. Laboratório de Microbiologia do Solo—I.C.A.A.M., Instituto de Ciências Agrárias e Ambientais Mediterrânicas, Universidade de Évora, Evora, Portugal

    Marta Laranjo & Solange Oliveira

  2. Departamento de Biologia, Universidade de Évora, Apartado 94, 7002-554, Evora, Portugal

    Solange Oliveira

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  1. Marta Laranjo
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  2. Solange Oliveira
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Correspondence to Solange Oliveira.

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Laranjo, M., Oliveira, S. Tolerance of Mesorhizobium type strains to different environmental stresses. Antonie van Leeuwenhoek 99, 651–662 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10482-010-9539-9

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