High-quality permanent draft genome sequence of Ensifer medicae strain WSM244, a microsymbiont isolated from Medicago polymorpha growing in alkaline soil

Abstract

Ensifer medicae WSM244 is an aerobic, motile, Gram-negative, non-spore-forming rod that can exist as a soil saprophyte or as a legume microsymbiont of Medicago species. WSM244 was isolated in 1979 from a nodule recovered from the roots of the annual Medicago polymorpha L. growing in alkaline soil (pH 8.0) in Tel Afer, Iraq. WSM244 is the only acid-sensitive E. medicae strain that has been sequenced to date. It is effective at fixing nitrogen with M. polymorpha L., as well as with more alkaline-adapted Medicago spp. such as M. littoralis Loisel., M. scutellata (L.) Mill., M. tornata (L.) Mill. and M. truncatula Gaertn. This strain is also effective with the perennial M. sativa L. Here we describe the features of E. medicae WSM244, together with genome sequence information and its annotation. The 6,650,282 bp high-quality permanent draft genome is arranged into 91 scaffolds of 91 contigs containing 6,427 protein-coding genes and 68 RNA-only encoding genes, and is one of the rhizobial genomes sequenced as part of the DOE Joint Genome Institute 2010 Genomic Encyclopedia for Bacteria and Archaea-Root Nodule Bacteria (GEBA-RNB) project proposal.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s40793-015-0119-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Dominant associations of Ensifer medicae-Medicage polymorpha and Ensifer meliloti-Medicago lupulina in farmland and natural ecosystem

“…In the present study, we systematically investigated, for the rst time, Our results demonstrated that the speci city for the two Medicago species and their microsymbionts appeared not so stringent, although M. polymorha was recognized as the sole host of E. medicae (Biondi et al, 2003;Brunel et al, 1996;Rome et al, 1996). While, it has been found that E. medicae could also nodulate the perennial M. sativa L. (Ardley et al, 2015) and M. lupulina ( Silva et al, 2007). On the other hand, E. meliloti was once identi ed ineffective symbionts for M. polymorha, but commonly nodulate M. sativa, M. truncatula and M. laciniata (Denton et al 2007;Villegas et al 2006).…”

Diversification of Sinorhizobium populations associated with Medicago polymorpha and Medicago lupulina in purple soil of China

“…Although Medicago sativa forms nodules with S. meliloti in natural conditions, its growth in acidic soils was also significantly improved by inoculating S. medicae under laboratory conditions ( Ramírez-Bahena et al, 2015 ). All these results imply that the dominant association of S. medicae with M. polymorpha might be related to the natural distribution of this legume plant in acid soil, despite that alkaline-tolerant (pH = 8.0) S. medicae strain has also been reported ( Ardley et al, 2015 ).…”