Genetics as a tool to understand structure and function; Vector technology of relevance to nitrogen fixation research; The Azolla-Anabaena symbiosis; The genetics of the Frankia-actinorhizal symbiosis; Legume nodule biochemistry and function; The Rhizobium/bradyrhizobium-legume symbiosis; Nitrate inhibition of nodulation in legumes; Nodulin function and nodulin gene regulation in root nodule development; The Parasponia-bradyrhizobium symbiosis.
Phylogenetic classification of nitrogen-fixing organisms. Physiology of nitrogen fixation in free-living heterotrophs. Nitrogen fixation by photosynthetic bacteria. Nitrogen fixation in cyanobacteria. Nitrogen fixation by methanogenic bacteria. Associative nitrogen-fixing bacteria. Actinorhizal symbioses. Ecology of bradyrhizobium and rhizobium. The rhizobium infection process. Physiology of nitrogen-fixing legume nodules: compartments, and functions. Hydrogen cycling in symbiotic bacteria. Evolution of nitrogen-fixing symbioses. The rhizobium symbiosis of the nonlegume parasponia. Genetic analysis of rhizobium nodulation. Nodulins in root nodule development. Plant genetics of symbiotic nitrogen fixation. Molecular genetics of bradyrhizobium symbioses. The enzymology of molybdenum-dependent nitrogen fixation. Alternative nitrogen fixation systems. Biochemical genetics of nitrogenase. Regulation of nitrogen fixation genes in free-living and symbiotic bacteria. Isolated iron-molybdenum cofactor of nitrogenase.
This book provides in-depth reviews of the role of Rhizobium in agriculture and its biotechnological applications. Individual chapters explore topics such as: the occurrence and distribution of Rhizobium; phenotypic and molecular characteristics of Rhizobium; impact of Rhizobium on other microbial communities in the rhizosphere; N2-fixation ability of Rhizobium; Rhizobium and biotic stress; Rhizobium-mediated restoration of an ecosystem; in silico analysis of the rhizobia pool; further biotechnological perspectives of Rhizobium.
During the past three decades there has been a large amount of research on biological nitrogen fixation, in part stimulated by increasing world prices of nitrogen-containing fertilizers and environmental concerns. In the last several years, research on plant--microbe interactions, and symbiotic and asymbiotic nitrogen fixation has become truly interdisciplinary in nature, stimulated to some degree by the use of modern genetic techniques. These methodologies have allowed us to make detailed analyses of plant and bacterial genes involved in symbiotic processes and to follow the growth and persistence of the root-nodule bacteria and free-living nitrogen-fixing bacteria in soils. Through the efforts of a large number of researchers we now have a better understanding of the ecology of rhizobia, environmental parameters affecting the infection and nodulation process, the nature of specificity, the biochemistry of host plants and microsymbionts, and chemical signalling between symbiotic partners. This volume gives a summary of current research efforts and knowledge in the field of biological nitrogen fixation. Since the research field is diverse in nature, this book presents a collection of papers in the major research area of physiology and metabolism, genetics, evolution, taxonomy, ecology, and international programs.
General information on the symbiotic nitrogen fixation. Isolation, identification and counting of rhizobia. Production of an inoculant and inoculation of legumes. Experiments.
The Rhizobiaceae, Molecular Biology of Model Plant-Associated Bacteria. This book gives a comprehensive overview on our present molecular biological knowledge about the Rhizobiaceae, which currently can be called the best-studied family of soil bacteria. For many centuries they have attracted the attention of scientists because of their capacity to associate with plants and as a consequence also to specifically modify plant development. Some of these associations are beneficial for the plant, as is the case for the Rhizobiaceae subgroups collectively called rhizobia, which are able to fix nitrogen in a symbiosis with the plant hosts. This symbiosis results in the fonnation of root or stem nodules, as illustrated on the front cover. In contrast, several Rhizobiaceae subgroups can negatively affect plant development and evoke plant diseases. Examples are Agrobacterium tumefaciens andA. rhizogenes which induce the formation of crown galls or hairy roots on the stems of their host plants, respectively (bottom panels on front cover). In addition to the obvious importance of studies on the Rhizobiaceae for agronomy, this research field has resulted in the discovery of many fundamental scientific principles of general interest, which are highlighted in this book. To mention three examples: (i) the discovery of DNA transfer of A.
Biological nitrogen fixation has essential role in N cycle in global ecosystem. Several types of nitrogen fixing bacteria are recognized: the free-living bacteria in soil or water; symbiotic bacteria making root nodules in legumes or non-legumes; associative nitrogen fixing bacteria that resides outside the plant roots and provides fixed nitrogen to the plants; endophytic nitrogen fixing bacteria living in the roots, stems and leaves of plants. In this book there are 11 chapters related to biological nitrogen fixation, regulation of legume-rhizobium symbiosis, and agriculture and ecology of biological nitrogen fixation, including new models for autoregulation of nodulation in legumes, endophytic nitrogen fixation in sugarcane or forest trees, etc. Hopefully, this book will contribute to biological, ecological, and agricultural sciences.
Understanding of biological nitrogen fixation has advanced with impressive rapidity during the last decade. As befits a developing area of Science, these advances have uncovered information and raised questions which will have, and indeed have had, repercussions in numerous other branches of science and its applications. This 'information explosion', to use one of to-day's cant idioms, was initiated by the discovery, by a group of scientists working in the Central Research laboratories of Dupont de Nemours, U. S. A. , of a reproducibly active, cell-free enzyme preparation from a nitrogen fixing bacterium. Full credit is due to them. But subsequent developments, albeit sometimes quite as impressive, have too often been marked by that familiar disorder of a developing field of research-the scramble to publish. It is a scramble which, at its best, may represent a laudable desire to inform colleagues of the latest developments; yet which too easily develops into an undignified rush for priority, wherewith to impress one's Board of Directors or Grant-giving Institution. This, in miniature, is the tragedy of scientific research to-day: desire for credit causes research to be published in little bulletins, notes and preliminary communications, so that only those intimately involved in the field really know what is happening (and even they may well not see the forest for the trees). Those outside the field, or working in peripheral areas, may glean something of what is going on from reviews and fragments presented at meetings, but the broad pattern of development is often elusive.
