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Hydrogen Reactions of Nodulated Leguminous Plants

I. Effect of Rhizobial Strain and Plant Age ¹

^a Department of Botany and Plant Pathology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon 97331

The ATP-dependent evolution of H₂ catalyzed by nitrogenase and the hydrogenase-catalyzed oxidation of H₂ have been implicated as factors influencing the efficiency of energy utilization in the N₂ fixation process. The effects of rhizobial strain and plant age on the H₂-evolving and H₂-utilizing activity of leguminous root nodules are described in this manuscript. Two classes of legume-Rhizobium combinations were observed in studies with soybeans (Glycine max L. Merr.) and cowpeas (Vigna unguiculata L. Walp.). One group evolved H₂ in air; the other group did not exhibit net evolution of H₂. The latter group metabolized H₂ formed within the nodule through the action of a hydrogenase. The capacity to oxidize H₂ was strongly linked to the strain of Rhizobium used to inoculate cowpeas and soybeans. Although the magnitude of H₂ evolution in air changed during vegetative growth of a given symbiont, the ratio of H₂ evolved in air to total nitrogenase activity was not appreciably altered during this period. No consistent difference in nitrogenase activity as measured by the C₂H₂ reduction assay was observed between symbionts with an active hydrogenase and those that apparently lack the enzyme and evolve H₂. The effects of the two reactions of H₂ on total N₂ fixation and yield must now be established.

¹ This research was funded by grants to H. J. E. from the National Science Foundation (PCM-74-17812-A02) and the Rockefeller Foundation (GA-AS 7628). Support was also provided by the Oregon Agricultural Experiment Station (Technical Paper No. 4537).

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