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Urea and Biuret as Nitrogen Sources for Rhizobium Spp.
Author(s) -
Jensen H. L.,
Schrøder Minna
Publication year - 1965
Publication title -
journal of applied bacteriology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.889
H-Index - 156
eISSN - 1365-2672
pISSN - 0021-8847
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2672.1965.tb02178.x
Subject(s) - biuret test , rhizobia , urease , urea , biology , nitrogen fixation , rhizobium , nitrogen , rhizobium leguminosarum , botany , rhizobiaceae , chemistry , biochemistry , horticulture , bacteria , symbiosis , inoculation , organic chemistry , genetics
Ability to utilize urea as nitrogen source proved to be universal in 80 fast and 40 slow growing strains of Rhizobium spp. from 23 genera of host plants, and also in 10 strains of Agrobacterium radiobacter. Rhizobium meliloti (32 strains) as well as A. radiobacter constantly failed to utilize biuret. Most rhizobia from other host plants (with 8 exceptions among 88) were able to use biuret as a somewhat suboptimal source of nitrogen, which was generally assimilated at a slower rate than urea and rarely resulted in the same amount of growth, particularly in the fast growing strains; in exceptional cases and mostly among the slow growing strains biuret appeared slightly superior to urea. Adaptation experiments showed that urease occurred as a constitutive enzyme in Rh. leguminosarum , while the biuret decomposing enzyme appeared to be inducible.