Competition for alfalfa nodulation under metal stress by the metal-tolerant strain Ochrobactrum cytisi Azn6.2

Legume plants, in association with rhizobia, are gaining increasing interest for heavy metal rhizoremediation. This symbiotic interaction combines the advantages of rhizoremediation and soil nitrogen enrichment. In metal polluted soils, Ochrobactrum cytisi can elicit non-fixing nodules on legumes, i...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Navarro Torre, Salvadora, Rodríguez Llorente, Ignacio David, Doukkali, Bouchra, Caviedes Formento, Miguel Ángel, Pajuelo Domínguez, Eloísa
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión aceptada para publicación
Fecha de publicación:2019
País:España
Institución:Universidad de Sevilla (US)
Repositorio:idUS. Depósito de Investigación de la Universidad de Sevilla
OAI Identifier:oai:idus.us.es:11441/167868
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/11441/167868
https://doi.org/10.1111/aab.12528
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Heavy metals
Medicago sativa
Multiresistance
Nodulation competitive assay
α-proteobacteria
Descripción
Sumario:Legume plants, in association with rhizobia, are gaining increasing interest for heavy metal rhizoremediation. This symbiotic interaction combines the advantages of rhizoremediation and soil nitrogen enrichment. In metal polluted soils, Ochrobactrum cytisi can elicit non-fixing nodules on legumes, including Medicago sativa. Nodulation kinetics was much slower when M. sativa plants were inoculated with O. cytisi Azn6.2 compared with the natural symbiont Ensifer meliloti 1021 and nodules were ineffective in nitrogen fixation. A competition experiment was performed using alfalfa grown on heavy metals, and co-inoculated with equal amounts of the metal-sensitive E. meliloti 1021 and the metal-resistant O. cytisi Azn6.2. When plants were inoculated in non-polluted substrates, all nodules were formed by E. meliloti 1021. Nevertheless, under increasing metal concentrations, the number of nodules occupied by O. cytisi grew. At the highest metal concentration, all nodules were elicited by O. cytisi, suggesting that the resistant species can take the place of the natural symbiont. This fact has important ecological and environmental implications when proposing legume–rhizobia symbioses for rhizoremediation and highlights the need of selecting highly resistant rhizobia in order to be competitive in polluted soils.