Soil bacteria that also form mutualistic symbioses in plants encounter two major levels of selection. One occurs during adaptation to and survival in soil, and the other occurs in concert with host plant speciation and adaptation. Actinobacteria from the genus Frankia are facultative symbionts that form N 2 -fixing root nodules on diverse and globally distributed angiosperms in the "actinorhizal" symbioses. Three closely related clades of Frankia sp. strains are recognized; members of each clade infect a subset of plants from among eight angiosperm families. We sequenced the genomes from three strains; their sizes varied from 5.43 Mbp for a narrow host range strain (Frankia sp. strain HFPCcI3) to 7.50 Mbp for a medium host range strain (Frankia alni strain ACN14a) to 9.04 Mbp for a broad host range strain (Frankia sp. strain EAN1pec.) This size divergence is the largest yet reported for such closely related soil bacteria (97.8%-98

The members of the actinomycete genus Frankia are nitrogen-fixing symbionts of many species of woody dicotyledonous plants belonging to eight families. Several strains isolated from diverse actinorhizal plants growing in different geographical areas were used in this study. The phylogenetic relationships of these organisms and uncharacterized microsymbionts that are recalcitrant to isolation in pure culture were determined by comparing complete 16s ribosomal DNA sequences. The resulting phylogenetic tree revealed that there was greater diversity among the Alnus-infective strains than among the strains that infect other host plants. The four main subdivisions of the genus Frankia revealed by this phylogenetic analysis are (i) a very large group comprising Frankia alni and related organisms (including Alnus rugosa Sp+ microsymbionts that are seldom isolated in pure culture), to which Casuarina-infective strains, a Myrica nagi microsymbiont, and other effective Alnus-infective strains are related; (ii) unisolated microsymbionts of Dryas, Coriaria, and Dutisca species; (iii) Elaeagnus-infective strains; and (iv) "atypical" strains (a group which includes an Anus-infective, non-nitrogen-fixing strain). Taxa that are related to this well-defined, coherent Frankia cluster are the genera Geodermatophilus, "Blastococcus," Sporichthya, Acidothermus, and Actinoplanes. However, the two genera whose members have multilocular sporangia (the genera Frankia and Geodermatophilus) did not form a coherent group. For this reason, we propose that the family Frankiaceae should be emended so that the genera Geodermatophilus and "Blastococcus" are excluded and only the genus Frankia is retained.The slowly growing members of the actinomycete genus Frankia are root symbionts that nodulate a wide range of perennial woody dicotyledonous plants. This nitrogen-fixing symbiosis is known to occur in more than 200 species of plants belonging to 24 genera and eight families that are called actinorhizal (6). The first Frankia strain was isolated in 1956 by Pommer (43), but this strain was subsequently lost. In 1978, Callaham et al. (8) isolated an infective Frankia strain from Comptonia peregrirza, and since then hundreds of isolates have been obtained from a number of plant species growing in many geographical areas.Becking (5) was unsuccessful in isolating the causative agent of actinorhizal nodules despite numerous attempts. He suggested that this organism was an "obligate symbiont" and devised a classification scheme based on cross-inoculation groups and on the morphology of the endosymbiont. This scheme was subsequently found to be erroneous when pure cultures became available (8). Nonetheless, Becking ( 5 ) correctly perceived the bacterial nature of the microsymbiont, named it Frankia sp., and classified it as the only member of the family Frankiaceae in the order Actinomycetales.The members of the genus Frankia can now be clearly distinguished from other bacterial genera on the basis of their host specificity, their morphology (hyphae, ...

Microbial biotransformations have a major impact on contamination by toxic elements, which threatens public health in developing and industrial countries. Finding a means of preserving natural environments—including ground and surface waters—from arsenic constitutes a major challenge facing modern society. Although this metalloid is ubiquitous on Earth, thus far no bacterium thriving in arsenic-contaminated environments has been fully characterized. In-depth exploration of the genome of the β-proteobacterium Herminiimonas arsenicoxydans with regard to physiology, genetics, and proteomics, revealed that it possesses heretofore unsuspected mechanisms for coping with arsenic. Aside from multiple biochemical processes such as arsenic oxidation, reduction, and efflux, H. arsenicoxydans also exhibits positive chemotaxis and motility towards arsenic and metalloid scavenging by exopolysaccharides. These observations demonstrate the existence of a novel strategy to efficiently colonize arsenic-rich environments, which extends beyond oxidoreduction reactions. Such a microbial mechanism of detoxification, which is possibly exploitable for bioremediation applications of contaminated sites, may have played a crucial role in the occupation of ancient ecological niches on earth.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa lung infections are a major cause of death in cystic fibrosis and hospitalized patients. Treating these infections is becoming difficult due to the emergence of conventional antimicrobial multiresistance. While monosaccharides have proved beneficial against such bacterial lung infection, the design of several multivalent glycosylated macromolecules has been shown to be also beneficial on biofilm dispersion. In this study, calix[4]arene-based glycoclusters functionalized with galactosides or fucosides have been synthesized. The characterization of their inhibitory properties on Pseudomonas aeruginosa aggregation, biofilm formation, adhesion on epithelial cells, and destruction of alveolar tissues were performed. The antiadhesive properties of the designed glycoclusters were demonstrated through several in vitro bioassays. An in vivo mouse model of lung infection provided an almost complete protection against Pseudomonas aeruginosa with the designed glycoclusters.

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A polyphasic taxonomic study involving DNA-DNA hybridization, whole-cell protein electrophoresis, and 16S ribosomal DNA sequence analysis revealed that a group of Burkholderia cepacia-like organisms isolated from the rhizosphere or tissues of maize, wheat, and lupine belong to B. cepacia genomovar III, a genomic species associated with "cepacia syndrome" in cystic fibrosis patients. The present study also revealed considerable protein electrophoretic heterogeneity within this species and demonstrated that the B. cepacia complex consists of two independent phylogenetic lineages.In a survey of nonnative plant rhizosphere bacteria conducted in La Côte Saint André (France) with maize and in Kapunda (South Australia, Australia) with wheat, high levels of two groups of Burkholderia strains were found. The first group was characterized by using a polyphasic approach and formed a new taxon, Burkholderia graminis (15). Strains of the second group (designated phenon B) were found to be closely related to the Burkholderia cepacia complex; large numbers of these strains were present on roots, and more recently, new isolates were also obtained from inside the tissues of wheat and lupine in Kapunda (Table 1). Here, characterization of this taxonomic group was revisited by including reference strains of the B. cepacia complex in DNA-DNA hybridization, whole-cell protein electrophoretic, and 16S ribosomal DNA (rDNA) sequence analyses.Total DNA-DNA hybridization analyses were performed by using two methods, one involving tritiated reference DNAs (Table 2) and one involving photobiotin-labeled probes (Table 3). In a preliminary study, the two methods showed good correlation. For instance, the levels of hybridization of strain AUS 27 DNA with DNA of strain LMG 12614 were 65% when tritiated DNA was used and 63% when photobiotin-labeled DNA was used.In the first experiments we used tritiated reference DNAs of eight isolates, including two rhizosphere isolates (AUS 27 and C3B1M), one recent cystic fibrosis isolate (1-36) T ), and three recent cystic fibrosis isolates (strains 751, 1-36, and 1-47) were hybridized with these radioactively labeled DNAs. When hybridized with labeled DNA of strain AUS 27, all rhizosphere isolates except m35b showed levels of DNA-DNA hybridization greater than 65% and differences in melting temperatures (⌬T m values) less than 5°C, indicating that they belong to the same genomic species (12). When they were hybridized with labeled DNA of strain C3B1M, slightly lower values (as low as 61%) were obtained, indicating a certain degree of genomic heterogeneity in this species. Strain m35b showed significant but low levels of hybridization (40 to 48%) with all reference strains and thus does not belong to any of the genomovars examined. The possibility that this strain could belong to Burkholderia stabilis was not eliminated and will be tested further. B. cepacia genomovar III reference strains exhibited levels of hybridization of 58 to 76% with labeled DNA of strain AUS 27, indicating that the rhizosphere isola...

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