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. 1978 Jul;62(1):18–21. doi: 10.1104/pp.62.1.18

Regulation by Fixed Nitrogen of Host-Symbiont Recognition in the Rhizobium-Clover Symbiosis 1

Frank B Dazzo 1,2, Winston J Brill 1,3
PMCID: PMC1092046  PMID: 16660460

Abstract

Either NO3 (16 millimolar) or NH4+ (1 millimolar) completely inhibited infection and nodulation of white clover seedlings (Trifoliin repens) inoculated with Rhizobium trifolii. The binding of R. trifolii to root hairs and the immunologically detectable levels of the plant lectin, trifoliin, on the root hair surface had parallel declining slopes as the concentration of either NO3 or NH4+ was increased in the rooting medium. This supports the role of trifoliin in binding R. trifolii to clover root hairs. Agglutination of R. trifolii by trifoliin from seeds was not inhibited by these levels of NO3 or NH4+. The results suggest that these fixed N ions may play important roles in regulating an early recognition process in the Rhizobium-clover symbiosis, namely the accumulation of high numbers of infective R. trifolii cells on clover root hairs.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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