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Volume 158, Issue 5

Glycerol utilization by requires an ABC transporter and affects competition for nodulation Free

Abstract

Plasmid curing has shown that the ability to use glycerol as a carbon source is plasmid-encoded in . We isolated the locus responsible for glycerol utilization from plasmid pRleVF39c in bv. VF39. This region was analyzed by DNA sequencing and mutagenesis. The locus encompasses a gene encoding GlpR (a DeoR regulator), genes encoding an ABC transporter, and genes and , encoding a kinase and dehydrogenase, respectively. All the genes except the regulatory gene were organized into a single operon, and were required for growth on glycerol. The operon was strongly induced by both glycerol and glycerol 3-phosphate, as well as by pea seed exudate. GlpR repressed the operon in the absence of inducer. Mutation of genes encoding the ABC transporter abolished all transport of glycerol in transport assays using radiolabelled glycerol. This confirms that, unlike in other organisms such as and , which use facilitated diffusion, glycerol uptake occurs by an active process in . Since the locus is highly conserved in all sequenced and strains, as well as in spp. and spp. and other alphaproteobacteria, this process for glycerol uptake is probably widespread. Mutants unable to use glycerol were deficient in competitiveness for nodulation of peas compared with the wild-type, suggesting that glycerol catabolism confers an advantage upon the bacterium in the rhizosphere or in the infection thread.

  • Received:
  • Accepted:
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  • Published Online:
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2012-05-01
2024-04-25
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Glycerol utilization by Rhizobium leguminosarum requires an ABC transporter and affects competition for nodulation
Microbiology 158, 1369 (2012); https://doi.org/10.1099/mic.0.057281-0
/content/journal/micro/10.1099/mic.0.057281-0
/content/journal/micro/10.1099/mic.0.057281-0
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