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The recent sequence analysis of the photosynthetic and plant-symbiotic Bradyrhizobium sp. strain BTAi1 revealed the unexpected presence of a pucBA operon encoding the apoproteins of peripheral light-harvesting (LH) complexes. This pucBA operon is found close to a bacteriophytochrome gene ([BphP3.sub.B BTAi1]) and a two-component transcriptional regulator gene ([TF.sub.BTAi1] gene). In this study, we show that [BphP3.sub.B BTAi1] acts as a bona fide bacteriophytochrome and controls, according to light conditions, the expression of the pucBA operon found in its vicinity. This light regulatory pathway is very similar to the one previously described for chromo-[BphP4.sub.RP] in Rhodopseudomonas palustris and conducts the synthesis of a peripheral LH complex. This LH complex presents a single absorption band at low temperature, centered at 803 nm. Fluorescence emission analysis of intact cells indicates that this peripheral LH complex does not act as an efficient light antenna. One putative function of this LH complex could be to evacuate excess light energy in order to protect Bradyrhizobium strain BTAi1, an aerobic anoxygenic photosynthetic bacterium, against photooxidative damage during photosynthesis.

Bradyrhizobium strains, which are isolated in New Caledonia from nodules of the endemic legume Serianthes calycina growing in nickel-rich soils, have grown in the presence of Ni[Cl.sub.2]. The construction of cnrA mutant has shown that the cnr operon has determined the high nickel resistance in Bradyrhizobium strains.

Author(s): Eric Giraud [1]; Joël Fardoux [1]; Nicolas Fourrier [1]; Laure Hannibal [1]; Bernard Genty [2]; Pierre Bouyer [3]; Bernard Dreyfus [1]; André Verméglio (corresponding author) [3] Plants use a [...]

Some leguminous species of the genus Aeschynomene are specifically stem-nodulated by photosynthetic bradyrhizobia. To study the effect of bacterial photosynthesis during symbiosis, we generated a photosynthesis-negative mutant of the Bradyrhizobium sp. strain ORS278 symbiont of Aeschynomene sensitiva. The presence of a functional photosynthetic unit in bacteroids and the high expression of the photosynthetic genes observed in stem nodules demonstrate that the bacteria are photosynthetically active during stem symbiosis. Stem inoculation by the photosynthetic mutant gave a 50% decrease in stem-nodule number, which reduced nitrogen fixation activity and plant growth in the same proportion. These results indicate an important role of bacterial photosynthesis in the efficiency of stem nodulation.

New developments in the estimation of free spores of Pasteuria penetrans, a hyperparasite of plant-parasitic nematodes, including Meloidogyne spp., have been tested in contrasted textured soils. They were dedicated to improving the recovery of spores. Different methods of increasing energy of aggregate dispersion were compared in their efficiency in recovering spores inoculated in a sandy clay soil and a clay soil. The dispersion of the soils by the less energetic method (method A) allowed only 50% and 20% of the spore inoculum to be recovered from the sandy clay soil and clay soil, respectively. For these soils, 76% and 81% of the particle-size fraction (0–20 µm) isolated by this method were still aggregated in coarser structures. With increasing energy (methods B and C), these coarse aggregates disappeared entirely in both soils. At the same time, the recovery of spores increased sharply, representing about 87% and 75% of the inoculum of the sandy clay soil and clay soil, respectively. Therefore, at most 25% of the pool of spores remained undetectable. The formation of artificial aggregates during the enumeration procedure could not be advocated to explain this result, since the dispersion of the fraction collected for the enumeration did not improve spore recovery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The two closely related bacteria Bradyrhizobium and Rhodopseudomonas palustris show an unusual mechanism of regulation of photosystem formation by light thanks to a bacteriophytochrome that antirepresses the regulator PpsR. In these two bacteria, we found out, unexpectedly, that two ppsR genes are present. We show that the two Bradyrhizobium PpsR proteins exert antagonistic effects in the regulation of photosystem formation with a classical repressor role for PpsR2 and an unexpected activator role for PpsR1. DNase I footprint analysis show that both PpsR bind to the same DNA TGTN12ACA motif that is present in tandem in the bchC promoter and the crtED intergenic region. Interestingly, the cycA and aerR promoter regions that contain only one conserved palindrome are recognized by PpsR2, but not PpsR1. Further biochemical analyses indicate that PpsR1 only is redox sensitive through the formation of an intermolecular disulfide bond, which changes its oligomerization state from a tetramer to an octamer under oxidizing conditions. Moreover, PpsR1 presents a higher DNA affinity under its reduced form in contrast to what has been previously found for PpsR or its homolog CrtJ from the Rhodobacter species. These results suggest that regulation of photosystem synthesis in Bradyrhizobium involves two PpsR competing for the binding to the same photosynthesis genes and this competition might be modulated by two factors: light via the antagonistic action of a bacteriophytochrome on PpsR2 and redox potential via the switch of PpsR1 oligomerization state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]