A receptor kinase gene regulating symbiotic nodule development

Leguminous plants are able to establish a nitrogen-fixing symbiosis with soil bacteria generally known as rhizobia. Metabolites exuded by the plant root activate the production of a rhizobial signal molecule, the Nod factor, which is essential for symbiotic nodule development. This lipo-chitooligosa...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature (London) 2002-06, Vol.417 (6892), p.962-966
Main Authors: Kiss, György B, Endre, Gabriella, Kereszt, Attila, Kevei, Zoltán, Mihacea, Sorina, Kaló, Péter
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agronomy. Soil science and plant productions
Amino Acid Motifs
Amino Acid Sequence
Arabidopsis - enzymology
Arabidopsis - genetics
Biological and medical sciences
Cloning, Molecular
Computational Biology
Economic plant physiology
Fabaceae - enzymology
Fabaceae - genetics
Flowers & plants
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Genes
Genes, Plant - genetics
Medicago sativa - enzymology
Medicago sativa - genetics
Medicago sativa - metabolism
Medicago sativa - microbiology
Molecular Sequence Data
Mutation - genetics
Nitrogen Fixation
Parasitism and symbiosis
Phenotype
Plant physiology and development
Plant Roots - enzymology
Plant Roots - genetics
Plant Roots - microbiology
Protein Kinases - chemistry
Protein Kinases - genetics
Protein Kinases - metabolism
Rhizobium - metabolism
Sequence Alignment
Symbiosis
Symbiosis (nodules, symbiotic nitrogen fixation, mycorrhiza...)
Symbiosis - genetics
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Summary:Leguminous plants are able to establish a nitrogen-fixing symbiosis with soil bacteria generally known as rhizobia. Metabolites exuded by the plant root activate the production of a rhizobial signal molecule, the Nod factor, which is essential for symbiotic nodule development. This lipo-chitooligosaccharide signal is active at femtomolar concentrations, and its structure is correlated with host specificity of symbiosis, suggesting the involvement of a cognate perception system in the plant host. Here we describe the cloning of a gene from Medicago sativa that is essential for Nod-factor perception in alfalfa, and by genetic analogy, in the related legumes Medicago truncatula and Pisum sativum. The identified 'nodulation receptor kinase', NORK, is predicted to function in the Nod-factor perception/transduction system (the NORK system) that initiates a signal cascade leading to nodulation. The family of 'NORK extracellular-sequence-like' (NSL) genes is broadly distributed in the plant kingdom, although their biological function has not been previously ascribed. We suggest that during the evolution of symbiosis an ancestral NSL system was co-opted for transduction of an external ligand, the rhizobial Nod factor, leading to development of the symbiotic root nodule.
ISSN:0028-0836
1476-4687
DOI:10.1038/nature00842