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Burkholderia species are ancient symbionts of legumes
Author(s) -
BONTEMPS CYRIL,
ELLIOTT GEOFFREY N.,
SIMON MARCELO F.,
DOS REIS JÚNIOR FÁBIO B.,
GROSS EDUARDO,
LAWTON REBECCA C.,
NETO NICOLAU ELIAS,
De FÁTIMA LOUREIRO MARIA,
DE FARIA SERGIO M.,
SPRENT JANET I.,
JAMES EUAN K.,
YOUNG J. PETER W.
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
molecular ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.619
H-Index - 225
eISSN - 1365-294X
pISSN - 0962-1083
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-294x.2009.04458.x
Subject(s) - biology , burkholderia , symbiosis , clade , burkholderia cepacia complex , gene , evolutionary biology , ecology , phylogenetics , genetics , bacteria
Burkholderia has only recently been recognized as a potential nitrogen‐fixing symbiont of legumes, but we find that the origins of symbiosis in Burkholderia are much deeper than previously suspected. We sampled 143 symbionts from 47 native species of Mimosa across 1800 km in central Brazil and found that 98% were Burkholderia . Gene sequences defined seven distinct and divergent species complexes within the genus Burkholderia . The symbiosis‐related genes formed deep Burkholderia ‐specific clades, each specific to a species complex, implying that these genes diverged over a long period within Burkholderia without substantial horizontal gene transfer between species complexes.