DOI: 10.1094/mpmi-18-0973. Phosphorus-Free Membrane Lipids of <i>Sinorhizobium meliloti</i> Are Not Required for the Symbiosis with Alfalfa but Contribute to Increased Cell Yields Under Phosphorus-Limiting Conditions of Growth

Phosphorus-Free Membrane Lipids of Sinorhizobium meliloti Are Not Required for the Symbiosis with Alfalfa but Contribute to Increased Cell Yields Under Phosphorus-Limiting Conditions of Growth

10.1094/mpmi-18-0973

Crossref journal-article

Scientific Societies

Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions® (1665)

Abstract

The microsymbiont of alfalfa, Sinorhizobium meliloti, possesses phosphatidylglycerol, cardiolipin, phosphatidylethanolamine, and phosphatidylcholine as major membrane phospholipids, when grown in the presence of sufficient accessible phosphorus sources. Under phosphate-limiting conditions of growth, S. meliloti replaces its phospholipids by membrane lipids that do not contain any phosphorus in their molecular structure and, in S. meliloti, these phosphorus-free membrane lipids are sulphoquinovosyl diacylglycerols (SL), ornithine-containing lipids (OL), and diacylglyceryl-N,N,N-trimethylhomoserines (DGTS). In earlier work, we demonstrated that neither SL nor OL are required for establishing a nitrogen-fixing root nodule symbiosis with alfalfa. We now report the identification of the two structural genes btaAand btaB from S. meliloti required for DGTS biosynthesis. When the sinorhizobial btaA and btaB genes are expressed in Escherichia coli, they cause the formation of DGTS in this latter organism. A btaA-deficient mutant of S. meliloti is unable to form DGTS but can form nitrogen-fixing root nodules on alfalfa, demonstrating that sinorhizobial DGTS is not required for establishing a successful symbiosis with the host plant. Even a triple mutant of S. meliloti, unable to form any of the phosphorus-free membrane lipids SL, OL, or DGTS is equally competitive for nodule occupancy as the wild type. Only under growth-limiting concentrations of phosphate in culture media did mutants that could form neither OL nor DGTS grow to lesser cell densities.

Bibliography

LÃ³pez-Lara, I. M., Gao, J.-L., Soto, M. J., Solares-PÃ©rez, A., Weissenmayer, B., Sohlenkamp, C., Verroios, G. P., Thomas-Oates, J., & Geiger, O. (2005). Phosphorus-Free Membrane Lipids of Sinorhizobium meliloti Are Not Required for the Symbiosis with Alfalfa but Contribute to Increased Cell Yields Under Phosphorus-Limiting Conditions of Growth. Molecular Plant-Microbe InteractionsÂ®, 18(9), 973â982.

Authors 9

Isabel M. López-Lara (first)
Jun-Lian Gao (additional)
María José Soto (additional)
Alhondra Solares-Pérez (additional)
Barbara Weissenmayer (additional)
Christian Sohlenkamp (additional)
George P. Verroios (additional)
Jane Thomas-Oates (additional)
Otto Geiger (additional)

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Dates

Type	When
Created	18 years, 3 months ago (May 11, 2007, 5:37 a.m.)
Deposited	3 years, 8 months ago (Dec. 29, 2021, 2:06 p.m.)
Indexed	2 months ago (July 2, 2025, 11:40 a.m.)
Issued	20 years ago (Sept. 1, 2005)
Published	20 years ago (Sept. 1, 2005)
Published Print	20 years ago (Sept. 1, 2005)

Funders 0

None

BibTeX

@article{L_pez_Lara_2005, title={Phosphorus-Free Membrane Lipids of Sinorhizobium meliloti Are Not Required for the Symbiosis with Alfalfa but Contribute to Increased Cell Yields Under Phosphorus-Limiting Conditions of Growth}, volume={18}, ISSN={1943-7706}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.1094/mpmi-18-0973}, DOI={10.1094/mpmi-18-0973}, number={9}, journal={Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions®}, publisher={Scientific Societies}, author={López-Lara, Isabel M. and Gao, Jun-Lian and Soto, María José and Solares-Pérez, Alhondra and Weissenmayer, Barbara and Sohlenkamp, Christian and Verroios, George P. and Thomas-Oates, Jane and Geiger, Otto}, year={2005}, month=sep, pages={973–982} }

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