Open AccessThe Bradyrhizobium japonicum phoB gene is required for phosphate‐limited growth but not for symbiotic nitrogen fixation
Author(s) -
Minder Alexander C,
Narberhaus Franz,
Fischer HansMartin,
Hennecke Hauke
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
fems microbiology letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.899
H-Index - 151
eISSN - 1574-6968
pISSN - 0378-1097
DOI - 10.1111/j.1574-6968.1998.tb12927.x
Subject(s) - bradyrhizobium japonicum , biology , sinorhizobium meliloti , escherichia coli , mutant , nitrogen fixation , biochemistry , gene , microbiology and biotechnology , rhizobiaceae , bacteria , genetics , symbiosis
We identified by cloning and DNA sequence analysis the phosphate regulatory gene phoB of Bradyrhizobium japonicum . The deduced gene product displayed pronounced similarity to the PhoB protein of Sinorhizobium meliloti (71.4% identical amino acids), Escherichia coli (50.2%) and other bacterial species. Insertion of a kanamycin resistance cassette into phoB led to impaired growth of the B. japonicum mutant in media containing approximately 25 μM phosphate or less. A standard plant infection test using wild‐type and phoB ‐defective B. japonicum strains showed that the phoB mutation had no effect on the symbiotic properties of B. japonicum with its soybean host plant.