1. Symbiotic and saprophytic survival of three unmarked Rhizobium leguminosarum biovar trifolii strains introduced into the field
- Author
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J. Gudmundsson, Mette M. Svenning, Samuel Duodu, and T. V. Bhuvaneswari
- Subjects
DNA, Bacterial ,Population ,Colony Count, Microbial ,Biology ,medicine.disease_cause ,Plant Roots ,Microbiology ,Rhizobium leguminosarum ,Rhizobia ,Bacterial Proteins ,Symbiosis ,Nitrogen Fixation ,Medicago ,medicine ,education ,Soil Microbiology ,Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics ,education.field_of_study ,Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction ,Membrane Proteins ,food and beverages ,biology.organism_classification ,DNA profiling ,Nitrogen fixation ,Soil microbiology ,Acyltransferases - Abstract
The symbiotic and saprophytic persistence of three unmarked Rhizobium leguminosarum biovar trifolii (Rlt) strains introduced into a field site in Iceland were followed. This site was free of clover cultivation and initially devoid of clover-nodulating rhizobia as tested by nodulation studies. Nodule occupancy by strains was identified based on their distinct ERIC-polymerase chain reaction (PCR) DNA fingerprint patterns. The survival and persistence of the individual strains in soil were monitored by the quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) assay, targeting the host-specific nodE gene. The most dominant strain in the nodule population, Rlt 20-15, showed relatively less saprophytic survival ability and maintained high numbers only in the presence of the appropriate host plant. Conversely, the minor nodule occupant, Rlt 32-28, persisted in soil at a relatively higher abundance both in the presence of its host legumes and in the presence of a non-host grass. The qRT-PCR assay was successfully applied to quantify rhizobial strains directly in soil without culturing or nodulation. However, the assay demonstrated less sensitivity compared with the plant infection most-probable-number (MPN) method for estimating the population size of rhizobia in soil. The quantitative detection limit of our qRT-PCR assays was 1 x 10(3) cells per gram of soil, as opposed to the MPN test which has a detection limit of 10 cells per gram of soil.
- Published
- 2005