This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Reprints and Permissions Copyright Information Books from ASM Press MicrobeWorld Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Pinero, D Articles by Selander, R K Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Pinero, D Articles by Selander, R K Agricola Articles by Pinero, D Articles by Selander, R K

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Appl Environ Microbiol. 1988 November; 54(11): 2825-2832

Genetic diversity and relationships among isolates of Rhizobium leguminosarum biovar phaseoli.

Centro de Ecología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City.

ABSTRACT

Fifty-one isolates of Rhizobium leguminosarum biovar phaseoli from various geographic and ecological sources, largely in Mexico, were characterized by the electrophoretic mobilities of 15 metabolic enzymes, and 46 distinctive multilocus genotypes (electrophoretic types [ETs]) were distinguished on the basis of allele profiles at the enzyme loci. Mean genetic diversity per enzyme locus among the 46 ETs was 0.691, the highest value yet recorded for any species of bacterium. The occurrence of strong nonrandom associations of alleles over loci suggested a basically clonal population structure, reflecting infrequent recombination of chromosomal genes. Multilocus genotypic diversity was unusually high, with the most strongly differentiated pairs of ETs having distinctive alleles at all 15 loci and major clusters of ETs diverging at genetic distances as large as 0.89. This great diversity in the chromosomal genome raises the possibility that R. leguminosarum biovar phaseoli is a polyphyletic assemblage of strains. As other workers have suggested, the inclusion of all strains capable of nodulating beans in a single biovar or species is genetically unrealistic and taxonomically misleading. A biologically meaningful classification of Rhizobium spp. should be based on assessment of variation in the chromosomal genome rather than on phenotypic characters, especially those mediated for the most part or wholly by plasmid-borne genes, such as host relationships.

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Guo, H., Sun, S., Finan, T. M., Xu, J. (2005). Novel DNA Sequences from Natural Strains of the Nitrogen-Fixing Symbiotic Bacterium Sinorhizobium meliloti. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 71: 7130-7138 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Flores, M., Morales, L., Avila, A., Gonzalez, V., Bustos, P., Garcia, D., Mora, Y., Guo, X., Collado-Vides, J., Pinero, D., Davila, G., Mora, J., Palacios, R. (2005). Diversification of DNA Sequences in the Symbiotic Genome of Rhizobium etli. J. Bacteriol. 187: 7185-7192 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Brom, S., Girard, L., Garcia-de los Santos, A., Sanjuan-Pinilla, J. M., Olivares, J., Sanjuan, J. (2002). Conservation of Plasmid-Encoded Traits among Bean-Nodulating Rhizobium Species. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 68: 2555-2561 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Parker, M. A. (2002). Bradyrhizobia from Wild Phaseolus, Desmodium, and Macroptilium Species in Northern Mexico. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 68: 2044-2048 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Simms, E. L., Taylor, D. L. (2002). Partner Choice in Nitrogen-Fixation Mutualisms of Legumes and Rhizobia. Integr. Comp. Biol. 42: 369-380 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Carelli, M., Gnocchi, S., Fancelli, S., Mengoni, A., Paffetti, D., Scotti, C., Bazzicalupo, M. (2000). Genetic Diversity and Dynamics of Sinorhizobium meliloti Populations Nodulating Different Alfalfa Cultivars in Italian Soils. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 66: 4785-4789 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Aguilar, O. M., López, M. V., Riccillo, P. M., González, R. A., Pagano, M., Grasso, D. H., Pühler, A., Favelukes, G. (1998). Prevalence of the Rhizobium etli-Like Allele in Genes Coding for 16S rRNA among the Indigenous Rhizobial Populations Found Associated with Wild Beans from the Southern Andes in Argentina. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 64: 3520-3524 [Abstract] [Full Text]