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Microbiology 153 (2007), 3983-3993; DOI  10.1099/mic.0.2007/008631-0
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Microbiology 153 (2007), 3983-3993; DOI  10.1099/mic.0.2007/008631-0
© 2007 Society for General Microbiology

A Mesorhizobium loti mutant with reduced glucan content shows defective invasion of its host plant Lotus japonicus

Yasuyuki Kawaharada, Shima Eda, Kiwamu Minamisawa and Hisayuki Mitsui

Graduate School of Life Sciences, Tohoku University, Katahira, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8577, Japan

Correspondence
Hisayuki Mitsui
hmitsui{at}ige.tohoku.ac.jp

Random transposon mutagenesis led to the isolation of a novel Mesorhizobium loti mutant that is defective in nitrogen fixation during symbiosis with Lotus japonicus. The mutated locus, designated cep, encodes a putative cell-envelope protein displaying no significant sequence similarity to proteins with known functions. This mutant elicits the formation of nodule-like bumps and root-hair curling, but not the elongation of infection threads, on L. japonicus roots. This is reminiscent of the phenotypes of rhizobial mutants impaired in cyclic β-glucan biosynthesis. The cep mutant exhibits partially reduced content of cell-associated glucans and intermediate deficiency of motility under hypo-osmotic conditions as compared to a glucan-deficient mutant. Second-site pseudorevertants of the cep mutant were isolated by selecting for restoration of symbiotic nitrogen fixation. A subset of pseudorevertants restored both symbiotic capability and glucan content to levels comparable to that of the wild-type. These results suggest that the Cep product acts on a successful symbiosis by affecting cell-associated glucan content.

Abbreviations: Gm, gentamicin; IT, infection thread; MDO, membrane-derived oligosaccharide; Nm, neomycin; Sm, streptomycin; Sp, spectinomycin; XP, 5-bromo-4-chloro-3-indolyl phosphate

Two supplementary figures are available with the online version of this paper.






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Copyright © 2007 Society for General Microbiology.