Figure 6.

DNF1 silencing affects bacteroid differentiation in Aeschynomene spp. A, Alignment of the deduced protein sequence of the A. evenia ssp. serrulata DNF1 ortholog with the corresponding Medicago spp. protein (accession no. TC121074). The two protein sequences were aligned using Multalin (http://multalin.toulouse.inra.fr/multalin/). B to E, Roots of different lines of A. evenia ssp. serrulata transformed with an RNAi construct directed against AeDNF1 encoding the SPC22 subunit of the SPC were inoculated with a GFP-tagged Bradyrhizobium sp. ORS285 strain. At 21 dpi, the nodules were harvested, and the shape of the bacteroids was observed by confocal microscopy on nodule sections. As a control, a line with no RNAi effect (1% reduction) was used (B). The lines 3, 7, and 53, with expression levels reduced by 62%, 65%, and 66%, respectively, are presented in C to E. Bars = 10 µm.