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Legumes force bacteria into symbiosis

15.06.2020

Biologists from ETH Zurich have studied how legumes interact with symbiotic bacteria that produce the ammonium they need.

Nodule bacteria that live in the roots of legumes and produce the nitrogen-containing compounds necessary for plants have long been the object of close attention of scientists. The transfer of this symbiosis to other agricultural plants, such as cereals, could eliminate the need to apply nitrogen fertilizers. The Swiss biologists brothers Bit and Matthias Kristen were able to make significant progress in understanding the mechanism of this symbiosis.

They used truncate alfalfa (Medicago truncatula) and its nodule symbiont bacterium Sinorhizobium meliloti as test subjects in their study, studying the metabolism between the two organisms using isotopic labeling and biochemical analysis.

As a result, it turned out that bacteria receive from plants not only carbon compounds, as previously thought, but also, which came as a surprise to scientists, the nitrogen-rich amino acid arginine. That is, plants actually give back nitrogen, which they receive from microorganisms. But as the authors of the study explain, this is part of a strategy by which legumes force nodule bacteria into symbiosis. "Contrary to popular belief, this symbiosis is not based on a voluntary exchange," says Matthias Kristen.

Biologists have succeeded in establishing that alfalfa treats its root-nodule bacteria without any pity and acts in relation to them almost as a causative agent of the disease. The plant supplies carbohydrates to bacteria, but at the same time purposefully deprives them of oxygen, thus creating unbearable conditions for microorganisms. However, arginine helps bacteria to survive - with the help of it they carry out metabolism, during which they learn oxidizing protons along with nitrogen molecules. As a result of this process, ammonium is produced, which goes to the plant.

According to the authors of the study, this ammonium is, in fact, a by-product of the struggle of nodule bacteria for their survival in an aggressive environment, which the legumes themselves provide them with.

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