SummaryRhizobium bacteria produce different surface polysaccharides which are either secreted in the growth medium or contribute to a capsule surrounding the cell. Here, we describe isolation and partial characterization of a novel high molecular weight surface polysaccharide from a strain of Rhizobium leguminosarum that nodulates Pisum sativum (pea) and Vicia sativa (vetch) roots. Carbohydrate analysis showed that the polysaccharide consists for 95% of mannose and glucose, with minor amounts of galactose and rhamnose. Lectin precipitation analysis revealed high binding affinity of pea and vetch lectin for this polysaccharide, in contrast to the other known capsular and extracellular polysaccharides of this strain. Expression of the polysaccharide was independent of the presence of a Sym plasmid or the nod gene inducer naringenin. Incubation of R. leguminosarum with labelled pea lectin showed that this polysaccharide is exclusively localized on one of the poles of the bacterial cell. Vetch roots incubated with rhizobia and labelled pea lectin revealed that this bacterial pole is involved in attachment to the root surface. A mutant strain deficient in the production of this polysaccharide was impaired in attachment and root hair infection under slightly acidic conditions, in contrast to the situation at slightly alkaline conditions. Our data are consistent with the hypothesis that rhizobia can use (at least) two mechanisms for docking at the root surface, with use of a lectin-glycan mechanism under slightly acidic conditions.

The Ca2+-dependent adhesin which mediates the first step in attachment of bacteria of the family Rhizobiaceae to plant root hair tips was isolated from the surface of Rhizobium leguminosarum biovar viciae cells; its ability to inhibit attachment of R. leguminosarum to pea root hair tips was used as a bioassay. Isolated adhesin was found to be able to inhibit attachment of both carbon-limited and manganese-limited R. leguminosarum cells. A multicolumn purification procedure was developed which resulted in pure adhesin, as judged from silver staining of isoelectric focusing and sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electropherograms. The crucial step in purification was the elution of rhizobial proteins by a CaCl2 gradient from a hydroxyapatite matrix. The specific activity increased 1,250 times during purification. The isoelectric point of the adhesin was determined to be 5.1, and the molecular mass was 14 kilodaltons (kDa), as determined by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. By using gel filtration in the presence and absence of Ca2 , the molecular mass of the adhesin was determined to be 15 and 6 kDa, respectively. The adhesin appeared to be a calcium-binding protein. The purified adhesin inhibited attachment of various other rhizobia to pea root hair tips. Also, cell surface preparations of several other rhizobial strains, including Agrobacterium, Bradyrhizobium, and Phyllobacterium spp., showed adhesin activity, suggesting that a common plant receptor is used for attachment of Rhizobiaceae cells and that the adhesin is common among Rhizobiaceae. No attachment-inhibiting activity was detected in cell surface preparations from various other bacterial strains tested. Cell surface preparations from Sym or Ti plasmid-cured Rhizobium and Agrobacterium strains, respectively, also showed adhesin activity, indicating that Sym or Ti plasmid-borne genes are not required for the synthesis and biogenesis of the adhesin. The adhesin was also found to be involved in the attachment of rhizobia to the root hairs of various other legumes and nonlegume plants, including monocotyledonous ones.Since the adhesin appears to be specific for Rhizobiaceae and is Ca2' dependent, we propose to designate it rhicadhesin. A more detailed model for rhizobial attachment to plant root hairs is discussed.Attachment of Rhizobiuim bacteria to the root hair tips of their leguminous host plants is one of the early steps in an infection process leading to the formation of nitrogen-fixing root nodules. Results from our laboratory show that the growth conditions of Rhizobiuim legioninosairuim cells are of prime importance for their attachment ability and that they determine the mechanism of attachment to pea root hairs. Carbon limitation leads to a non-lectin-mediated two-step attachment process, in which both a Ca2"-dependent adhesin and cellulose fibrils are involved (32)(33)(34)(35). After cultivation of rhizobia under manganese-limiting conditions, lectins are involved in the second step of the attachment process, toge...

Analysis of two exopolysaccharide-deficient mutants of Rhizobium leguminosarum, RBL5808 and RBL5812, revealed independent Tn5 transposon integrations in a single gene, designated exo5. As judged from structural and functional homology, this gene encodes a UDP-glucose dehydrogenase responsible for the oxidation of UDP-glucose to UDP-glucuronic acid. A mutation in exo5 affects all glucuronic acid-containing polysaccharides and, consequently, all galacturonic acid-containing polysaccharides. Exo5-deficient rhizobia do not produce extracellular polysaccharide (EPS) or capsular polysaccharide (CPS), both of which contain glucuronic acid. Carbohydrate composition analysis and nuclear magnetic resonance studies demonstrated that EPS and CPS from the parent strain have very similar structures. Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) molecules produced by the mutant strains are deficient in galacturonic acid, which is normally present in the core and lipid A portions of the LPS. The sensitivity of exo5 mutant rhizobia to hydrophobic compounds shows the involvement of the galacturonic acid residues in the outer membrane structure. Nodulation studies with Vicia sativa subsp. nigra showed that exo5 mutant rhizobia are impaired in successful infection thread colonization. This is caused by strong agglutination of EPS-deficient bacteria in the root hair curl. Root infection could be restored by simultaneous inoculation with a Nod factor-defective strain which retained the ability to produce EPS and CPS. However, in this case colonization of the nodule tissue was impaired.

Attachment of Rhizobium and Agrobacterium bacteria to cells of their host plants is a two-step process. The first step, direct attachment of bacteria to the plant cell wall, is mediated by the bacterial protein rhicadhesin. A putative plant receptor molecule for rhicadhesin was purified from cell walls of pea roots using a bioassay based on suppression of rhicadhesin activity. This molecule appeared to be sensitive to treatments with pronase or glycosidase. Its isoelectric point is 6.4, and its apparent molecular mass was estimated to be 32 kDa before and 29 kDa after glycosidase treatment, as determined by sodium dodecyl sulphate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and ultrafiltration. The sequence of the first 29 N-terminal amino acids was determined: A-D-A-D-A-L-Q-D-L-C(?)-V-A-D-Y-A-S-V-I-L- V-N-G-F-A-S-K(Q)-(P/Q)-(L)-(I). No homology with known proteins was found. In the course of this research project the extracellular matrix protein vitronectin was reported to inhibit attachment of A. tumefaciens to carrot cells [29]. A variety of adhesive proteins, including vitronectin, contain a common cell attachment determinant with the sequence R-G-D. Since we could not detect other cell wall components able to suppress rhicadhesin activity, and since an R-G-D containing hexapeptide was also active as a receptor, we speculate that the plant receptor for rhicadhesin is a glycoprotein containing an R-G-D attachment site.

Dénarié et al., 1992). Nodulation is regulated by a two-way exchange of plant and bacterial signal molecules (Fisher and Long, 1992;Spaink et al., 1993). Signal exchange begins in the rhizosphere. Rhizobia sense flavonoids secreted by seeds and by the host plant root, which activate the constitutively expressed nodD gene product (reviewed by Schlaman et al., 1992). This step is a determinant of host plant specificity in some Rhizobium-host plant combinations (Horvath et al., 1987; Spaink et al., 1987). Transcription of structural nod genes is under the control of NodD and results in production and secretion of specific lipochitin oligosaccharides (Nod factors), which act as host plant-specific inducers of nodule morphogenesis (reviewed by Dénarié and Cullimore, 1993;Spaink et al., 1993). Most probably, Nod factors constitute the primary determinants of host-plant specificity of nodulation.Root lectins are plant factors involved in nodulation. Lectins are nonenzymatic sugar-binding (g1yco)proteins characterized by sugar-binding specificity. For example, root PSL is Glc/Man specific (Díaz et al., 1990) and white clover root lectin is 2-deoxyglucose specific (Sherwood et al., 1984). In general, the interaction between RI uiciae and white clover does not proceed beyond root hair curling, and these bacteria are not able to penetrate host plant cells by infection thread formation (Yao and Vincent, 1969;Djordjevic et al., 1986;Huang et al., 1993). However, RI viciae is able to induce infection thread formation and nodulation in a significant percentage of white clover plants with roots transformed with the psl gene, as reported by Díaz et al. (1989Díaz et al. ( , 1995. This heterologous nodulation does not take place when a psl mutant, which encodes a non-sugar-binding protein, is used for transformation of white clover roots (Van Eijsden et al., 1992. These results strongly suggest that (a) PSL is functionally expressed in transgenic white clover roots, (b) conservation of the sugar-binding activity of PSL is necessary for infection of white clover by RI viciae, and (c) root lectin helps to break a host plant-specific barrier for nodulation. The relationship between Nod factor recognition by host plants and Rhizobium recognition by host lectin is not yet clear.PSL is an ellipsoidal, nonglycosylated dimeric lectin with two sugar-binding sites, each located near the top of two identical monomers (Einspahr et al., 1988). PSL is encoded by a single gene (Gatehouse et al., 1987;Kaminski et al., 1987) and is synthesized as a single translation product, a prolectin with a molecular mass of 28 kD. Posttranslational modifications result in a protein that dissociates into two p subunits (18 kD each) and two 01 subunits (6 kD each, Higgins et al., 1983)