Lectins: A Possible Basis for Specificity in the
            <i>Rhizobium</i>
            —Legume Root Nodule Symbiosis

Bohlool, B. Ben; Schmidt, E. L.

doi:10.1126/science.185.4147.269

Cited by 424 publications

(165 citation statements)

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“…In a pioneering work, Bohlool and Schmidt (2) tested the ability of FITC3-labeled soybean seed lectin to bind to 25 strains of Rhizobium japonicum, the symbiotic species for soybean, and to 23 other strains representative of several Rhizobium species which do not nodulate soybean. They reported that the SBL bound to 22 to the 25 strains of the soybean symbiont, R. japonicum, and that the lectin did not bind to any of the 23 nonsymbiotic strains.…”

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Role of Lectins in Plant-Microorganism Interactions

Bhuvaneswari¹,

Pueppke²,

Bauer³

1977

Plant Physiol.

144

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Highly purified soybean lectin (SBL) was labeled with fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC-SBL) or tritium (3H-SBL) and repurified by affinity chromatography. FITC-SBL was found to bind to living ceUls of 15 of the 22 Rhizobium japonicum strains tested. The lectin did not bind to cells of the other seven R. japonicum strains, or to cells of any of the nine Rhizobium strains tested which do not nodulate soybean. The binding of the lectin to the SBL-positive strains of R. japonicum was shown to be specific and reversible by hapten inhibition with Dgalactose or N-acetyl-D-galactosamine.The lectin-binding properties of the SBL-positive R. japonicum strains were found to change substantially with culture age. The percentage of ceUs in a population exhibiting fluorescence after exposure to FITC-SBL varied between 0 and 70%. The Intimate and specific symbiotic associations between leguminous plants and bacteria of the genus Rhizobium provide most of the biologically fixed nitrogen available for agriculture. The rhizobia enter root hairs of the host plant in a structure called the infection thread (4). The infection thread, which is believed to be a tubular, inward growing invagination of the host cell wall, carries the bacterial symbiont into the cortex of the root (11). There the bacteria enter the cytoplasm of host cell, surrounded by an envelope of host cell plasma membrane (12).Both the bacteria and cortical cells of the host proliferate to form a root nodule where nitrogen fixation takes place.The specificity of the Rhizobium-legume symbiosis is manifested by the failure of soil microorganisms other than rhizobia to gain effective entry into the plant by induction of infection thread structures, and also by host range specificity between members of the genus Rhizobium and the family Leguminosae. Dazzo and Hubbell (6), in a study of the symbiotic association between Rhizobium trifolii and white clover, have found that clover roots and R. trifolii possess a common antigen. This common antigen was shown to be present on the cell surfaces of infective strains of R. trifolii, but absent, inaccessible, or present in reduced quantities on noninfective strains. These authors isolated capsular polysaccharide material from infective R. trifolii which possessed cross-reactive antigenicity. They also provided evidence for the presence of a lectin in clover seed extracts capable of binding to isolated capsular antigen and to infective-but not the noninfective-strains of rhizobia. These results led Dazzo and Hubbell (6) to propose that the clover lectin provides a bridge between common antigen structures for the preferential adsorption of infective strains of R. trifolii to the root surface of the host.Wolpert and Albersheim (20) isolated lectins from four different legumes and obtained lipopolysaccharide preparations from four strains of Rhizobium, each capable of nodulating one of the legume species. The authors reported that the rhizobial lipopolysaccharides interacted with the host lectins, but not with the lectins ...

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Role of Lectins in Plant-Microorganism Interactions

Bhuvaneswari¹,

Pueppke²,

Bauer³

1977

Plant Physiol.

144

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“…The first nodules were noted on day 3. The bulk of the nodules in the NRH zone emerged on day 5 (Fig. 4).…”

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“…There is mounting evidence that lectins from certain legumes are bound by cells of Rhizobium strains that infect these plants (3,5,10), although other reports have been unable to support such findings (e.g. 16,20).…”

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“…Legumes may apparently recognize infective species of the nitrogen-fixing bacterium, Rhizobium, by a specific reaction between lectin on the host plant root surface and rhizobial cellsurface polysaccharides (5). There is mounting evidence that lectins from certain legumes are bound by cells of Rhizobium strains that infect these plants (3,5,10), although other reports have been unable to support such findings (e.g.…”

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Role of Lectins in the Specific Recognition of Rhizobium by Lotononis bainesii

Law¹,

Strijdom²

1984

Plant Physiol.

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Fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC)-labeled lectin purified from the root of Lotononis bainesii Baker was bound by cells of five out of seven L bainesii-nodulating strains of Rhizobium under culture conditions. With the exception of a strain of Rhizobium kguminosarum, strains of noninfective rhizobia failed to bind the root lectin under these conditions. The two nonlectin binding L bainesii-specific strains did not bind root lectin on the L bainesii rhizoplane although this was observed with three other L bainesii-nodulating strains. A single Rhizobium japonicum strain bound root lectin on the L bainasii rhizoplane. There was no evidence of an interaction between the L bainesii seed lectin and the Rhizobium strains tested.Root lectin-specific FITC-labeled antibodies were bound to the tips of developing root hairs and lateral growth points of more mature root hairs of L bainesii seedlings. The damaged edges of severed root hairs always bound FITC-labeled root lectin antibody. Seed lectin-specifc FITClabeled antibodies were not bound to the roots of L bainesii. The preemergent root hair region of L bainesii was most susceptible to infection by rhizobia but nodules also emerged in the developing and mature root hair regions. Lectin exposed at growth points on L bainesii root hairs may provide a favorable site for host plant recognition of infective strains of Rhizobium.Legumes may apparently recognize infective species of the nitrogen-fixing bacterium, Rhizobium, by a specific reaction between lectin on the host plant root surface and rhizobial cellsurface polysaccharides (5). There is mounting evidence that lectins from certain legumes are bound by cells of Rhizobium strains that infect these plants (3, 5, 10), although other reports have been unable to support such findings (e.g. 16,20).The location of lectins on the legume root, able to react with infective strains of Rhizobium, is an important prerequisite for substantiation of the lectin recognition hypothesis. Several authors have examined the interaction between rhizobia and legume root lectins. Lectins isolated from pea root slime (15), white clover roots (10), and root exudate (9) were bound by the species of Rhizobium that nodulate these plants. The pea and clover root lectins had properties similar to those of their respective seed lectins. Soybean seedling roots also yielded a lectin with properties characteristic of the soybean seed lectin (11) while immunolatex beads, prepared with seed lectin antibody, were bound by soybean roots (24). There is indirect evidence that the soybean-specific species Rhizobium japonicum reacts with lectin on the root of this plant; cells (24) and capsular polysaccharides ' Results of part of a Ph.D thesis submitted by I. J. L. to the University of Stellenbosch.(13) ofR. japonicum were bound by soybean seedling roots. This reaction was specifically inhibited by sugar haptens of the soybean seed lectin.The symbiosis between the perennial legume Lotononis bainesii and a red-pigmented species ofRhizobium is highly spec...

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“…7 "-'16) We also have reported the possible involvent of spore agglutinating factor in host plants in host-parasite specificity using Ceratocystis fimbriata Ell. and HaIst., black rot fungus.…”

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