Superficial Liaisons: Colonization of Roots and Abiotic Surfaces by Rhizobia.

FUJISHIGE N., RINAUIDI, L., GIORDANO W. AND HIRSCH A.

Biology of Plant-Microbe Interactions

International Society for Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions

Lugar: St. Paul, Minnesota, USA; Año: 2006; p. 292 - 299

As a means of quantitatively assessing attachment with the goal of studying root colonization in situ, we developed conditions for analyzing the ability of Sinorhizobium meliloti and Rhizobium leguminosarum bv. viciae to produce biofilms (structured communities of bacteria adherent to a surface and to each other, and surrounded by exopolymer) not only on roots, but also on abiotic surfaces, including glass, sand, plastic microtiter plate wells, and soil.  Factors involved in attachment to abiotic surfaces are likely to be used in the attachment of rhizobia to legume root cells.  Moreover, biofilm formation on roots, both legumes and non-legumes that are not hosts for a specific rhizobial species, could be a means whereby non-spore producing bacteria such as rhizobia survive desiccation and starvation conditions in the soil. Our goal is to characterize the genes that are important for attachment to the host surface and subsequent infection thread formation.  In the process, we have analyzed several S. meliloti mutants that are impaired in colonization of legume host roots and tested their ability to establish biofilms in microtiter plate wells.