A new clade of Mesorhizobium nodulating Alhagi sparsifolia

Gehong Wei, Weimin Chen, J. Peter W. Young, Cyril Bontemps

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

We isolated 33 nodule bacteria from the legume Alhagi sparsifolia growing in the desert of northwest China. They fell into three groups by restriction analysis of their rrs (small subunit ribosomal RNA) genes, and these, together with dnaK and dnaJ genes, were sequenced from representative isolates to assess their taxonomic position by phylogenetic analysis. The bacteria in each group belonged to different lineages that might represent three different new Mesorhizobium species, two of which form a novel clade very distinct from other species in the genus. Most A. sparsifolia symbionts harboured closely related nodA and nodC genes forming new lineages. The presence of these closely related symbiosis genes in various genomic backgrounds and the incongruence observed between the different gene phylogenies indicate a history of horizontal gene transfer of symbiosis genes between the A. sparsifolia symbionts. (C) 2008 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)8-16
Number of pages9
JournalSYSTEMATIC AND APPLIED MICROBIOLOGY
Volume32
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Feb 2009

Bibliographical note

doi: DOI: 10.1016/j.syapm.2008.11.003

Keywords

  • Mesorhizobium
  • Alhagi sparsifolia
  • Phylogeny
  • Housekeeping genes
  • Nodulation genes
  • Lateral gene transfer
  • COMPARATIVE SEQUENCE-ANALYSIS
  • RHIZOBIUM-ETLI CFN42
  • SYMBIOSIS ISLAND
  • PHYLOGENETIC INFERENCE
  • NITROGEN-FIXATION
  • LEGUME SYMBIOSIS
  • GENE-TRANSFER
  • RNA GENE
  • RECOMBINATION
  • GENOME

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