Current knowledge about rhizobial diversity patterns in non-nodule habitats is scarce, limiting our understanding of basic aspects of rhizobial ecology like competitiveness for nodule occupancy and host effects on community structure. We used a combination of cultivation-dependent and independent approaches to analyse alpha and beta diversity patterns of Rhizobiaceae communities from a conserved seasonally dry tropical forest site in central Mexico and two nearby agricultural fields. Lineage-specific recA amplicon libraries were generated from soil DNA and their sequences compared with those from root surface and nodule isolates recovered in trapping experiments from two native Acacia species and two Phaseolus vulgaris cultivars. Rarefaction analyses revealed that Rhizobiaceae diversity in soils is larger than on root surfaces, and smallest in nodules. A 'rare biosphere'-like distribution of species was found in the three habitats. Multivariate statistical analyses demonstrated that the plant genus exerted a stronger influence than the land-usage regime on the diversity of rhizobia associated with hosts. Rhizobium etli was the dominant Rhizobiaceae found in the soil libraries. It dominated nodulation of Acacia spp. and predominately harboured symbiovar mimosae-like nodC genes. A novel Rhizobium lineage (Rsp1) dominated bean nodulation. Specialist and generalist genotypes for host nodulation were detected in both species.

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The ubiquitous cytoplasmic membrane copper transporting P1B‐1 and P1B‐3‐type ATPases pump out Cu+ and Cu2+, respectively, to prevent cytoplasmic accumulation and avoid toxicity. The presence of five copies of Cu‐ATPases in the symbiotic nitrogen‐fixing bacteria Sinorhizobium meliloti is remarkable; it is the largest number of Cu+‐transporters in a bacterial genome reported to date. Since the prevalence of multiple Cu‐ATPases in members of the Rhizobiales order is unknown, we performed an in silico analysis to understand the occurrence, diversity and evolution of Cu+‐ATPases in members of the Rhizobiales order. Multiple copies of Cu‐ATPase coding genes (2–8) were detected in 45 of the 53 analyzed genomes. The diversity inferred from a maximum‐likelihood (ML) phylogenetic analysis classified Cu‐ATPases into four monophyletic groups. Each group contained additional subtypes, based on the presence of conserved motifs. This novel phylogeny redefines the current classification, where they are divided into two subtypes (P1B‐1 and P1B‐3). Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) as well as the evolutionary dynamic of plasmid‐borne genes may have played an important role in the functional diversification of Cu‐ATPases. Homologous cytoplasmic and periplasmic Cu+‐chaperones, CopZ, and CusF, that integrate a CopZ‐CopA‐CusF tripartite efflux system in gamma‐proteobacteria and archeae, were found in 19 of the 53 surveyed genomes of the Rhizobiales. This result strongly suggests a high divergence of CopZ and CusF homologs, or the existence of unexplored proteins involved in cellular copper transport.

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