To elucidate the mechanism of adaptation of leguminous plants to iron (Fe)‐deficient environment, comprehensive analyses of soybean (Glycine max) plants (sampled at anthesis) were conducted under ...Fe‐sufficient control and Fe‐deficient treatment using metabolomic and physiological approach. Our results show that soybeans grown under Fe‐deficient conditions showed lower nitrogen (N) fixation efficiency; however, ureides increased in different tissues, indicating potential N‐feedback inhibition. N assimilation was inhibited as observed in the repressed amino acids biosynthesis and reduced proteins in roots and nodules. In Fe‐deficient leaves, many amino acids increased, accompanied by the reduction of malate, fumarate, succinate, and α‐ketoglutarate, which implies the N reprogramming was stimulated by the anaplerotic pathway. Accordingly, many organic acids increased in roots and nodules; however, enzymes involved in the related metabolic pathway (e.g., Krebs cycle) showed opposite activity between roots and nodules, indicative of different mechanisms. Sugars increased or maintained at constant level in different tissues under Fe deficiency, which probably relates to oxidative stress, cell wall damage, and feedback regulation. Increased ascorbate, nicotinate, raffinose, galactinol, and proline in different tissues possibly helped resist the oxidative stress induced by Fe deficiency. Overall, Fe deficiency induced the coordinated metabolic reprogramming in different tissues of symbiotic soybean plants.
In soybean, the induction of metabolic change in some specific organs due to Fe deficiency has been previously reported. However, the integrated analysis of metabolic reaction in different organs of leguminous plants in response to Fe deficiency has not been performed. In this study, we used metabolomic and physiological approaches to profile metabolic alterations in nodules, roots and leaves of symbiotic soybean under Fe‐sufficient and ‐deficient conditions. Our results provide an abundance of candidate metabolic pathways that play important roles in the responses of symbiotic soybean plants to Fe deficiency.
• Background High input costs and environmental pressures to reduce nitrogen use in agriculture have increased the competitive advantage of legume crops. The symbiotic relationship that legumes form ...with nitrogen-fixing soil bacteria in root nodules is central to this advantage. • Scope Understanding how legume plants maintain control of nodulation to balance the nitrogen gains with their energy needs and developmental costs will assist in increasing their productivity and relative advantage. For this reason, the regulation of nodulation has been extensively studied since the first mutants exhibiting increased nodulation were isolated almost three decades ago. • Conclusions Nodulation is regulated primarily via a systemic mechanism known as the autoregulation of nodulation (AON), which is controlled by a CLAVATA1-like receptor kinase. Multiple components sharing homology with the CLAVATA signalling pathway that maintains control of the shoot apical meristem in arabidopsis have now been identified in AON. This includes the recent identification of several CLE peptides capable of activating nodule inhibition responses, a low molecular weight shoot signal and a role for CLAVATA2 in AON. Efforts are now being focused on directly identifying the interactions of these components and to identify the form that long-distance transport molecules take.
Summary
Biological nitrogen fixation in rhizobia occurs primarily in root or stem nodules and is induced by the bacteria present in legume plants. This symbiotic process has fascinated researchers ...for over a century, and the positive effects of legumes on soils and their food and feed value have been recognized for thousands of years. Symbiotic nitrogen fixation uses solar energy to reduce the inert N2 gas to ammonia at normal temperature and pressure, and is thus today, especially, important for sustainable food production. Increased productivity through improved effectiveness of the process is seen as a major research and development goal. The interaction between rhizobia and their legume hosts has thus been dissected at agronomic, plant physiological, microbiological and molecular levels to produce ample information about processes involved, but identification of major bottlenecks regarding efficiency of nitrogen fixation has proven to be complex. We review processes and results that contributed to the current understanding of this fascinating system, with focus on effectiveness of nitrogen fixation in rhizobia.
The effectiveness of rhizobia in symbiosis with legumes is reviewed, with references from older and most recent literature.
Gene expression during arbuscular mycorrhizal development is highly orchestrated in both plants and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. To elucidate the gene expression profiles of the symbiotic ...association, we performed a digital gene expression analysis of Lotus japonicus and Rhizophagus irregularis using a HiSeq 2000 next-generation sequencer with a Cufflinks assembly and de novo transcriptome assembly. There were 3,641 genes differentially expressed during arbuscular mycorrhizal development in L. japonicus, approximately 80% of which were up-regulated. The up-regulated genes included secreted proteins, transporters, proteins involved in lipid and amino acid metabolism, ribosomes and histones. We also detected many genes that were differentially expressed in small-secreted peptides and transcription factors, which may be involved in signal transduction or transcription regulation during symbiosis. Co-regulated genes between arbuscular mycorrhizal and root nodule symbiosis were not particularly abundant, but transcripts encoding for membrane traffic-related proteins, transporters and iron transport-related proteins were found to be highly co-up-regulated. In transcripts of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, expansion of cytochrome P450 was observed, which may contribute to various metabolic pathways required to accommodate roots and soil. The comprehensive gene expression data of both plants and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi provide a powerful platform for investigating the functional and molecular mechanisms underlying arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis.
Nitrogen-fixing root nodules on legumes result from two developmental processes, bacterial infection and nodule organogenesis. To balance symbiosis and plant growth, legume hosts restrict nodule ...numbers through an inducible autoregulatory process. Here, we present a mechanism where repression of a negative regulator ensures symbiotic susceptibility of uninfected roots of the host
We show that microRNA miR2111 undergoes shoot-to-root translocation to control rhizobial infection through posttranscriptional regulation of the symbiosis suppressor TOO MUCH LOVE in roots. miR2111 maintains a susceptible default status in uninfected hosts and functions as an activator of symbiosis downstream of LOTUS HISTIDINE KINASE1-mediated cytokinin perception in roots and HYPERNODULATION ABERRANT ROOT FORMATION1, a shoot factor in autoregulation. The miR2111-
node ensures activation of feedback regulation to balance infection and nodulation events.
Legume-rhizobial symbiosis plays an important role in agriculture and ecological restoration. However, knowledge of the molecular mechanisms, especially the microstructure and global transcriptional ...profiling, of the symbiosis process under heavy metal contamination is limited. In this study, a heavy metal-tolerant legume, Medicago lupulina, was treated with different concentrations of copper (Cu). The results showed that the early infection process was inhibited and the nodule ultrastructure was changed under 200 mg kg−1 Cu stress. Most infection threads (ITs) were prevented from entering the nodule cells, and few rhizobia were released into the host cells, in which thickening of the plant cell wall and IT wall was observed, demonstrating that rhizobial invasion was inhibited under Cu stress. RNA-seq analysis indicated that a strong shift in gene expression occurred (3257 differentially expressed genes, DEGs). The most pronounced effect was the upregulation of a set of 71 of 73 DEGs for nodule-specific cysteine-rich peptides, which have been shown to control the terminal differentiation of rhizobia in the nodules and to have antimicrobial activity. Various genes for metal transport, chelation binding and antioxidant defence were regulated. In particular, the DEGs for Cu trafficking and detoxification were induced during nodule formation. The DEGs for ethylene (ET) biosynthesis and signalling were also differentially expressed during nodulation, suggesting that the inhibition of nodulation by Cu occurred partially through ET signalling. Furthermore, the genes related to the cell wall were mostly upregulated and most likely involved in cell wall thickening. These findings provide an integrated understanding of the effects of Cu on legume nodule symbiosis at the molecular and phenotypic levels.
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•Transcriptome analysis of symbiotic roots responding to Cu stress was performed.•Cu stress impaired rhizobial infection and release and nodule ultrastructure.•Cu stress upregulated the expression of many NCRs and cell wall-related genes.•The genes related to Cu transport were involved in both Cu stress and nodulation.•The genes related to ET signalling were involved in both Cu stress and nodulation.
The plant plasma membrane-localized NADPH oxidases, known as respiratory burst oxidase homologues (RBOHs), appear to play crucial roles in plant growth and development. They are involved in important ...processes, such as root hair growth, plant defence reactions and abscisic acid signalling. Using sequence similarity searches, we identified seven putative RBOH-encoding genes in the Medicago truncatula genome. A phylogenetic reconstruction showed that Rboh gene duplications occurred in legume species. We analysed the expression of these MtRboh genes in different M. truncatula tissues: one of them, MtRbohA, was significantly up-regulated in Sinorhizobium meliloti-induced symbiotic nodules. MtRbohA expression appeared to be restricted to the nitrogen-fixing zone of the functional nodule. Moreover, using S. meliloti bacA and nifH mutants unable to form efficient nodules, a strong link between nodule nitrogen fixation and MtRbohA up-regulation was shown. MtRbohA expression was largely enhanced under hypoxic conditions. Specific RNA interference for MtRbohA provoked a decrease in the nodule nitrogen fixation activity and the modulation of genes encoding the microsymbiont nitrogenase. These results suggest that hypoxia, prevailing in the nodule-fixing zone, may drive the stimulation of MtRbohA expression, which would, in turn, lead to the regulation of nodule functioning.
Legumes played central roles in the development of agriculture and civilization, and today account for approximately one-third of the world's primary crop production. Unfortunately, most cultivated ...legumes are poor model systems for genomic research. Therefore, Medicago truncatula, which has a relatively small diploid genome, has been adopted as a model species for legume genomics. To enhance its value as a model, we have generated a gene expression atlas that provides a global view of gene expression in all major organ systems of this species, with special emphasis on nodule and seed development. The atlas reveals massive differences in gene expression between organs that are accompanied by changes in the expression of key regulatory genes, such as transcription factor genes, which presumably orchestrate genetic reprogramming during development and differentiation. Interestingly, many legume-specific genes are preferentially expressed in nitrogen-fixing nodules, indicating that evolution endowed them with special roles in this unique and important organ. Comparative transcriptome analysis of Medicago versus Arabidopsis revealed significant divergence in developmental expression profiles of orthologous genes, which indicates that phylogenetic analysis alone is insufficient to predict the function of orthologs in different species. The data presented here represent an unparalleled resource for legume functional genomics, which will accelerate discoveries in legume biology.
Soybean root nodules are known to contain a high diversity of both rhizobial endophytes and nonrhizobial endophytes (NREs). Nevertheless, the variation of these bacteria among different root nodules ...within single plants has not been reported. So far, it is unclear whether the selection of NREs among different root nodules within single plants is a random process or is strictly controlled by the host plant to favor a few specific NREs based on their beneficial influence on plant growth. As well, it is also unknown if the relative frequency of NREs within different root nodules is consistent or if it varies based on the location or size of a root nodule. We assessed the microbiomes of 193 individual soybean root nodules from nine plants using high-throughput DNA sequencing.
strains occurred in high abundance in all root nodules despite the presence of other soybean-compatible rhizobia, such as
,
, and other species of
in soil.
and
were the two nonrhizobial genera that were uniformly detected within almost all root nodules, though they were in low abundance. DNA sequences related to other NREs that have frequently been reported, such as
,
,
, and
species, were detected in a few nodules. Unlike for
, the low abundance and inconsistent occurrence of previously reported NREs among different root nodules within single plants suggest that these microbes are not preferentially selected as endophytes by host plants and most likely play a limited part in plant growth as endophytes.
Soybean (
L.) is a valuable food crop that also contributes significantly to soil nitrogen by developing a symbiotic association with nitrogen-fixing rhizobia. Bacterial endophytes (both rhizobial and nonrhizobial) are considered critical for the growth and resilience of the legume host. In the past, several studies have suggested that the selection of bacterial endophytes within root nodules can be influenced by factors such as soil pH, nutrient availability, host plant genotype, and bacterial diversity in soil. However, the influence of size or location of root nodules on the selection of bacterial endophytes within soybean roots is unknown. It is also unclear whether the selection of nonrhizobial endophytes within different root nodules of a single plant is a random process or is strictly regulated by the host. This information can be useful in identifying potential bacterial species for developing bioinoculants that can enhance plant growth and soil nitrogen.
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