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Species-specific microsymbiont discrimination mediated by a Medicago receptor kinase

  • Xiaocheng Yu
  • , Jinge Liu
  • , Qiulin Qin
  • , Ikram Zribi
  • , Jingyin Yu
  • , Shengming Yang
  • , Randy D. Dinkins
  • , Zhangjun Fei
  • , Attila Kereszt
  • , Hongyan Zhu

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

7 Scopus citations

Abstract

Host range specificity is a prominent feature of the legume-rhizobial symbiosis. Sinorhizobium meliloti and Sinorhizobium medicae are two closely related species that engage in root nodule symbiosis with legume plants of the Medicago genus, but certain Medicago species exhibit selectivity in their interactions with the two rhizobial species. We have identified a Medicago receptor-like kinase, which can discriminate between the two bacterial species, acting as a genetic barrier against infection by most S. medicae strains. Activation of this receptor-mediated nodulation restriction requires a bacterial gene that encodes a glycine-rich octapeptide repeat protein with distinct variants capable of distinguishing S. medicae from S. meliloti. This study sheds light on the coevolution of host plants and rhizobia, shaping symbiotic selectivity in their respective ecological niches.

Original languageEnglish
Article numberadp6436
JournalScience advances
Volume10
Issue number31
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 2024

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 The Authors.

Funding

Acknowledgments: We thank J.-M. Prosperi and A. Farmer for providing the Medicago seeds, and P. tiffin, M. Sadowsky, B. Scharf, and A. Mengoni for contributing rhizobial strains. We also thank A. chen, h. li, J. Zhu, and e. Mulalic for assistance in genetic mapping, and h. vadasi for the bacterial cloning work. We are especially grateful to K. R. Andersen for helping with the analysis of the Rns2 protein structures. Funding: this work was supported by U.S. department of Agriculture/national institute of Food and Agriculture grant 2014-67013-21573 (h.Z.), U.S. national Science Foundation grant iOS-1758037 (h.Z.), U.S. department of Agriculture/ Agricultural Research Service non-Assistance cooperative Agreement grant 5850428003 (h.Z.), and hungarian national Research, development and innovation Office grants K134841 and K146663 (A.K.). Author contributions: conceptualization: h.Z., A.K., X.Y., and J.l. Methodology: X.Y., J.l., A.K., and Z.F. Resources: S.Y., R.d.d., and Z.F. investigation: X.Y., J.l., i.Z., Q.Q., and J.Y. Funding acquisition: h.Z. and A.K. Project administration: h.Z. and A.K. Supervision: h.Z. and A.K. Writing—original draft: h.Z., A.K., and X.Y. Writing—review and editing: h.Z. and A.K. Competing interests: the authors declare that they have no competing interests. Data and materials availability: All data needed to evaluate the conclusions in the paper are present in the paper and/or the Supplementary Materials. the sequence of NS2 can be found at GenBank under accession no. PP820921 and the sequence of rns2 can be found at GenBank under accession no. PP852361. We thank J.-M. Prosperi and A. Farmer for providing the Medicago seeds, and P. Tiffin, M. Sadowsky, B. Scharf, and A. Mengoni for contributing rhizobial strains. We also thank A. Chen, H. Li, J. Zhu, and E. Mulalic for assistance in genetic mapping, and H. Vadasi for the bacterial cloning work. We are especially grateful to K. R. Andersen for helping with the analysis of the Rns2 protein structures. Funding: This work was supported by U.S. Department of Agriculture/National Institute of Food and Agriculture grant 2014-67013- 21573 (H.Z.), U.S. National Science Foundation grant IOS-1758037 (H.Z.), U.S. Department of Agriculture/Agricultural Research Service Non-Assistance Cooperative Agreement grant 5850428003 (H.Z.), and Hungarian National Research, Development and Innovation Office grants K134841 and K146663 (A.K.). Author contributions: Conceptualization: H.Z., A.K., X.Y., and J.L. Methodology: X.Y., J.L., A.K., and Z.F. Resources: S.Y., R.D.D., and Z.F. Investigation: X.Y., J.L., I.Z., Q.Q., and J.Y. Funding acquisition: H.Z. and A.K. Project administration: H.Z. and A.K. Supervision: H.Z. and A.K. Writing-original draft: H.Z., A.K., and X.Y. Writing-review and editing: H.Z. and A.K. Competing interests: The authors declare that they have no competing interests. Data and materials availability: All data needed to evaluate the conclusions in the paper are present in the paper and/or the Supplementary Materials. The sequence of NS2 can be found at GenBank under accession no. PP820921 and the sequence of rns2 can be found at GenBank under accession no. PP852361.

FundersFunder number
U.S. Department of Agriculture
USDA-Agricultural Research Service5850428003
US Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Agriculture and Food Research Initiative2014-67013-21573
National Science Foundation Arctic Social Science Program1758037, 5850428003, IOS-1758037
Nemzeti Kutatási Fejlesztési és Innovációs HivatalPP820921, K134841, PP852361, K146663

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