A cultivation-independent approach was used to identify potentially nitrogen-fixing endophytes in seven sweet potato varieties collected in Uganda and Kenya. Nitrogenase reductase genes (nifH) were amplified by PCR, and amplicons were cloned in Escherichia coli. Clones were grouped by restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis, and representative nifH genes were sequenced. The resulting ...

The Rhizobium etli rpoN1 gene, encoding the alternative sigma factor sigma54 (RpoN), was recently characterized and shown to be involved in the assimilation of several nitrogen and carbon sources during free-living aerobic growth (J. Michiels, T. Van Soom, I. D'hooghe, B. Dombrecht, T. Benhassine, P. de Wilde, and J. Vanderleyden, J. Bacteriol. 180:1729-1740, 1998). We identified a second rpoN ...

A chromosomal gene, required for nodule development on Phaseolus bean, was characterized from Rhizobium etli strain TAL182. MLC640 is a Tn5 insertion mutant of TAL182 which shows decreased motility in soft TY agar and is defective in nodule development. The site of Tn5 insertion in MLC640 mapped to a 3.6-kb EcoRI chromosomal fragment. The 3.6-kb fragment was subcloned from the cosmid pUHR80 whi...

We report the complete 6,530,228-bp genome sequence of the symbiotic nitrogen fixing bacterium Rhizobium etli. Six large plasmids comprise one-third of the total genome size. The chromosome encodes most functions necessary for cell growth, whereas few essential genes or complete metabolic pathways are located in plasmids. Chromosomal synteny is disrupted by genes related to insertion sequences,...

The isolation and characterization of a Rhizobium etli glutamate auxotroph, TAD12, harbouring a single Tn5 insertion, is reported. This mutant produced no detectable glutamate synthase (GOGAT) activity. The cloning and physical characterization of a 7.2 kb fragment of R. etli DNA harbouring the structural genes gltB and gltD encoding the two GOGAT subunits GltB and GltD is also reported. In com...

Constitutive expression of foreign glutamate dehydrogenase in Rhizobium etli inhibits bean plant nodulation (A. Mendoza, A. Leija, E. Martínez-Romero, G. Hernández, and J. Mora. Mol. Plant-Microbe Interact. 8:584-592, 1995). Here we report that this inhibition is overcome when controlling gdhA expression by NifA, thus delaying the GDH activity onset after nodule establishment. Expression of gdh...

RosR is a determinant of nodulation competitiveness and cell surface characteristics of Rhizobium etli and has sequence similarity to a family of transcriptional repressors. To understand how RosR affects these phenotypes, we mutagenized a rosR mutant derivative of R. etli strain CE3 with a mini-Tn5 that contains a promoterless gusA gene at one end, which acts as a transcriptional reporter. Usi...