Table 3. Competition for nodulation and relative fitness of the poorly infective evolved clones M4, N11 and S8 coinoculated with their respective infective mutants M4 vsrA, N11 prhI and S8 p112 hrpG.
| Competition mix A/B |
Inoculum |
Competition for nodulation |
Relative fitness |
||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
% of bacteria |
% of nodules |
CIa (A/B) |
% of bacteria in nodule population |
CIa (A/B) | |||||
| A | B | A | B | Empty | A | B | |||
| M4 vsrA/M4 | 55±20 | 45±20 | 40±14 | 10±14 | 50±14 | 11.5±14 | nd | nd | nd |
| M4 vsrA/M4 | 19±5 | 81±5 | 17±6 | 39±6 | 44±10 | 1.9±0.1 | 43±20 | 57±20 | 3.6±2.2 |
| M4 vsrA/M4 | 7±1 | 93±1 | 24±16 | 19±1 | 57±18 | 17±10 | 36±15 | 64±15 | 9.3±7.3 |
| N11 prhI/N11 | 50±4 | 50±4 | 84±6 | 3±2 | 13±4 | 36±15 | nd | nd | nd |
| N11 prhI/N11 | 2±0.6 | 98±0.6 | 59±10 | 23±4 | 18±14 | 141±117 | 96±2 | 4±2 | 1571±806 |
| S8 p112hrpG/S8-SpeRb | 46±2 | 54±2 | 92±1 | 2±2 | 6±1 | 30±13 | nd | nd | nd |
| S8 p112hrpG/S8-SpeRb | 1±0.4 | 99±0.4 | 35±5 | 25±5 | 40±10 | 236±146 | 99.7±0.4 | 0.3±0.4 | 166 164±175 121 |
| S8-SpeRb/S8 | 47±0.7 | 53±0.7 | 32±1.5 | 33±2.5 | 36±3.9 | 1.5±0.7 | nd | nd | nd |
Values are averages±s.d. (n=3).
a
Competitive index, CI (A/B) for competitiveness=(% nodules induced by A/% A in inoculum)/(% nodules induced by B/% B in inoculum), CI (A/B) for relative fitness=(% A in nodule population/% A in inoculum)/(% B in nodule population/% B in inoculum).
b
The GenR cassette was replaced by a SpeR cassette in S8 to allow strain identification on the basis of antibiotic resistance.