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Fuentes-Romero F, Alías-Villegas C, Navarro-Gómez P, Acosta-Jurado S, Bernabéu-Roda LM, Cuéllar V, Soto MJ, Vinardell JM. Methods for Studying Swimming and Surface Motilities in Rhizobia. Methods Mol Biol 2024; 2751:205-217. [PMID: 38265718 DOI: 10.1007/978-1-0716-3617-6_13] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/25/2024]
Abstract
Rhizobia are soil proteobacteria able to establish a nitrogen-fixing interaction with legumes. In this interaction, rhizobia must colonize legume roots, infect them, and become hosted inside new organs formed by the plants and called nodules. Rhizobial motility, not being essential for symbiosis, might affect the degree of success of the interaction with legumes. Because of this, the study of rhizobial motility (either swimming or surface motility) might be of interest for research teams working on rhizobial symbiotic performance. In this chapter, we describe the protocols we use in our laboratories for studying the different types of motilities exhibited by Sinorhizobium fredii and Sinorhizobium meliloti, as well as for analyzing the presence of flagella in these bacteria. All these protocols might be used (or adapted) for studying bacterial motility in rhizobia.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Cynthia Alías-Villegas
- Centro Andaluz de Biología del Desarrollo, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas and Junta de Andalucía, Seville, Spain
| | - Pilar Navarro-Gómez
- Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Biology, University of Seville, Seville, Spain
| | - Sebastián Acosta-Jurado
- Centro Andaluz de Biología del Desarrollo, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas and Junta de Andalucía, Seville, Spain
| | - Lydia M Bernabéu-Roda
- Department ofBiotechnology and EnvironmentalProtection, Estación Experimental del Zaidín, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Granada, Spain
| | - Virginia Cuéllar
- Department ofBiotechnology and EnvironmentalProtection, Estación Experimental del Zaidín, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Granada, Spain
| | - María J Soto
- Department ofBiotechnology and EnvironmentalProtection, Estación Experimental del Zaidín, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Granada, Spain
| | - José M Vinardell
- Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Biology, University of Seville, Seville, Spain.
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Brito-Santana P, Duque-Pedraza JJ, Bernabéu-Roda LM, Carvia-Hermoso C, Cuéllar V, Fuentes-Romero F, Acosta-Jurado S, Vinardell JM, Soto MJ. Sinorhizobium meliloti DnaJ Is Required for Surface Motility, Stress Tolerance, and for Efficient Nodulation and Symbiotic Nitrogen Fixation. Int J Mol Sci 2023; 24:ijms24065848. [PMID: 36982921 PMCID: PMC10055731 DOI: 10.3390/ijms24065848] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/21/2023] [Revised: 03/14/2023] [Accepted: 03/17/2023] [Indexed: 03/30/2023] Open
Abstract
Bacterial surface motility is a complex microbial trait that contributes to host colonization. However, the knowledge about regulatory mechanisms that control surface translocation in rhizobia and their role in the establishment of symbiosis with legumes is still limited. Recently, 2-tridecanone (2-TDC) was identified as an infochemical in bacteria that hampers microbial colonization of plants. In the alfalfa symbiont Sinorhizobium meliloti, 2-TDC promotes a mode of surface motility that is mostly independent of flagella. To understand the mechanism of action of 2-TDC in S. meliloti and unveil genes putatively involved in plant colonization, Tn5 transposants derived from a flagellaless strain that were impaired in 2-TDC-induced surface spreading were isolated and genetically characterized. In one of the mutants, the gene coding for the chaperone DnaJ was inactivated. Characterization of this transposant and newly obtained flagella-minus and flagella-plus dnaJ deletion mutants revealed that DnaJ is essential for surface translocation, while it plays a minor role in swimming motility. DnaJ loss-of-function reduces salt and oxidative stress tolerance in S. meliloti and hinders the establishment of efficient symbiosis by affecting nodule formation efficiency, cellular infection, and nitrogen fixation. Intriguingly, the lack of DnaJ causes more severe defects in a flagellaless background. This work highlights the role of DnaJ in the free-living and symbiotic lifestyles of S. meliloti.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paula Brito-Santana
- Estación Experimental del Zaidín, CSIC, Department of Biotechnology and Environmental Protection, 18008 Granada, Spain
| | - Julián J Duque-Pedraza
- Estación Experimental del Zaidín, CSIC, Department of Biotechnology and Environmental Protection, 18008 Granada, Spain
| | - Lydia M Bernabéu-Roda
- Estación Experimental del Zaidín, CSIC, Department of Biotechnology and Environmental Protection, 18008 Granada, Spain
| | - Cristina Carvia-Hermoso
- Estación Experimental del Zaidín, CSIC, Department of Biotechnology and Environmental Protection, 18008 Granada, Spain
| | - Virginia Cuéllar
- Estación Experimental del Zaidín, CSIC, Department of Biotechnology and Environmental Protection, 18008 Granada, Spain
| | - Francisco Fuentes-Romero
- Facultad de Biología, Departamento de Microbiología, Universidad de Sevilla, 41012 Sevilla, Spain
| | - Sebastián Acosta-Jurado
- Centro Andaluz de Biología del Desarrollo, CSIC, Junta de Andalucía, Departamento de Biología Molecular e Ingeniería Bioquímica, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, 41013 Seville, Spain
| | - José-María Vinardell
- Facultad de Biología, Departamento de Microbiología, Universidad de Sevilla, 41012 Sevilla, Spain
| | - María J Soto
- Estación Experimental del Zaidín, CSIC, Department of Biotechnology and Environmental Protection, 18008 Granada, Spain
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