First published online January 22, 2004; 10.1104/pp.103.031518
Plant Physiology 134:595-604 (2004)
© 2004 American Society of Plant Biologists
PLANTS INTERACTING WITH OTHER ORGANISMS
Plant and Bacterial Symbiotic Mutants Define Three Transcriptionally Distinct Stages in the Development of the Medicago truncatula/Sinorhizobium meliloti Symbiosis1
Raka Mustaphi Mitra and
Sharon Rugel Long*
Department of Biological Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305
In the Medicago truncatula/Sinorhizobium meliloti symbiosis, the plant undergoes a series of developmental changes simultaneously, creating a root nodule and allowing bacterial entry and differentiation. Our studies of plant genes reveal novel transcriptional regulation during the establishment of the symbiosis and identify molecular markers that distinguish classes of plant and bacterial symbiotic mutants. We have identified three symbiotically regulated plant genes encoding a ,13 endoglucanase (MtBGLU1), a lectin (MtLEC4), and a cysteine-containing protein (MtN31). MtBGLU1 is down-regulated in the plant 24 h after exposure to the bacterial signal, Nod factor. The non-nodulating plant mutant dmi1 is defective in the ability to down-regulate MtBGLU1. MtLEC4 and MtN31 are induced 1 and 2 weeks after bacterial inoculation, respectively. We examined the regulation of these two genes and three previously identified genes (MtCAM1, ENOD2, and MtLB1) in plant symbiotic mutants and wild-type plants inoculated with bacterial symbiotic mutants. Plant (bit1, rit1, and Mtsym1) and bacterial (exoA and exoH) mutants with defects in the initial stages of invasion are unable to induce MtLEC4, MtN31, MtCAM1, ENOD2, and MtLB1. Bacterial mutants (fixJ and nifD) and a subset of plant mutants (dnf2, dnf3, dnf4, dnf6, and dnf7) defective for nitrogen fixation induce the above genes. The bacA bacterial mutant, which senesces upon deposition into plant cells, and two plant mutants with defects in nitrogen fixation (dnf1 and dnf5) induce MtLEC4 and ENOD2 but not MtN31, MtCAM1, or MtLB1. These data suggest the presence of at least three transcriptionally distinct developmental stages during invasion of M. truncatula by S. meliloti.
Article, publication date, and citation information can be found at http://www.plantphysiol.org/cgi/doi/10.1104/pp.103.031518.
1 This work was supported by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, by the U.S. Department of Energy (grant no. DEFG0390ER20010 to S.R.L.), and by Howard Hughes Medical Institute (Predoctoral Fellowship to R.M.M.).
* Corresponding author; e-mail srl{at}stanford.edu; fax 6507258309.
Received August 14, 2003;
returned for revision August 27, 2003;
accepted October 13, 2003.
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