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Genetic diversity of fast-growing rhizobia that nodulate soybean (Glycine max L. Merr)

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Abstract

The fast-growing Rhizobium sp. strain NGR234, isolated from Papua New Guinea, and 13 strains of Sinorhizobium fredii, isolated from China and Vietnam, were fingerprinted by means of RAPD, REP, ERIC and ARDRA. ERIC, REP and RAPD markers revealed a considerable genetic diversity among fast-growing rhizobia. Chinese isolates showed higher levels of diversity than those strains isolated from Vietnam. ARDRA analysis revealed three different genotypes among fast-growing rhizobia that nodulate soybean, even though all belonged to a subcluster that included Sinorhizobium saheli and Sinorhizobium meliloti. Among S. fredii rhizobia, two strains, SMH13 and HH303, might be representatives of other species of nitrogen-fixing organisms. Although restriction analysis of the nifD–nifK intergenic DNA fragment confirmed the unique nature of Rhizobium sp. strain NGR234, several similarities between Rhizobium sp. strain NGR234 and S. fredii USDA257, the ARDRA analysis and the full sequence of the 16S rDNA confirmed that NGR234 is a S. fredii strain. In addition, ARDRA analysis and the full sequence of the 16S rDNA suggested that two strains of rhizobia might be representatives of other species of rhizobia.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Dr. S.G. Pueppke for critically reviewing the manuscrip. Gustavo Saldaña was supported by a scholarship funded by the Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Pedro Alberto Balatti and Virginia Martinez Alcántara were supported by CICBA and Universidad Nacional de La Plata. This work was supported by grant PICT97 00679 FONCYT SCyT de la Nación, PIA no. CONICET no. 6809/96, Resolución no. 1015/96, by CICBA Resolución 1104/96 and by the CiCYT grant BIO99-0614-C03 of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Technology.

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  1. Instituto de Fisiología Vegetal, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Cátedra de Microbiología Agrícola, Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias y Forestales, CC327 La Plata 1900, Argentina

    Gustavo Saldaña, Virginia Martinez-Alcántara & Pedro Alberto Balatti

  2. Departamento de Microbiología, Facultad de Biología, Universidad de Sevilla, Apdo 1095, 41080, Sevilla, Spain

    José M. Vinardell, Ramón Bellogín & José E. Ruíz-Sainz

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  1. Gustavo Saldaña
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  2. Virginia Martinez-Alcántara
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  3. José M. Vinardell
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  6. Pedro Alberto Balatti
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Correspondence to Pedro Alberto Balatti.

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Saldaña, G., Martinez-Alcántara, V., Vinardell, J.M. et al. Genetic diversity of fast-growing rhizobia that nodulate soybean (Glycine max L. Merr). Arch Microbiol 180, 45–52 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00203-003-0559-y

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