Deciphering the Chitin Code in Plant Symbiosis, Defense, and Microbial Networks.

Chitin is a structural polymer in many eukaryotes. Many organisms can degrade chitin to defend against chitinous pathogens or use chitin oligomers as food. Beneficial microorganisms like nitrogen-fixing symbiotic rhizobia and mycorrhizal fungi produce chitin-based signal molecules called lipo-chitooligosaccharides (LCOs) and short chitin oligomers to initiate a symbiotic relationship with their compatible hosts and exchange nutrients. A recent study revealed that a broad range of fungi produce LCOs and chitooligosaccharides (COs), suggesting that these signaling molecules are not limited to beneficial microbes. The fungal LCOs also affect fungal growth and development, indicating that the roles of LCOs beyond symbiosis and LCO production may predate mycorrhizal symbiosis. This review describes the diverse structures of chitin; their perception by eukaryotes and prokaryotes; and their roles in symbiotic interactions, defense, and microbe-microbe interactions. We also discuss potential strategies of fungi to synthesize LCOs and their roles in fungi with different lifestyles.

Transcription Factors Controlling the Rhizobium-Legume Symbiosis: Integrating Infection, Organogenesis and the Abiotic Environment.

Legume roots engage in a symbiotic relationship with rhizobia, leading to the development of nitrogen-fixing nodules. Nodule development is a sophisticated process and is under the tight regulation of the plant. The symbiosis initiates with a signal exchange between the two partners, followed by the development of a new organ colonized by rhizobia. Over two decades of study have shed light on the transcriptional regulation of rhizobium-legume symbiosis. A large number of transcription factors (TFs) have been implicated in one or more stages of this symbiosis. Legumes must monitor nodule development amidst a dynamic physical environment. Some environmental factors are conducive to nodulation, whereas others are stressful. The modulation of rhizobium-legume symbiosis by the abiotic environment adds another layer of complexity and is also transcriptionally regulated. Several symbiotic TFs act as integrators between symbiosis and the response to the abiotic environment. In this review, we trace the role of various TFs involved in rhizobium-legume symbiosis along its developmental route and highlight the ones that also act as communicators between this symbiosis and the response to the abiotic environment. Finally, we discuss contemporary approaches to study TF-target interactions in plants and probe their potential utility in the field of rhizobium-legume symbiosis.

Medicago Plants Control Nodulation by Regulating Proteolysis of the Receptor-Like Kinase DMI2.

Plants use receptor-like kinases to monitor environmental changes and transduce signals into plant cells. The Medicago truncatula (hereafter Mtruncatula) DOES NOT MAKE INFECTIONS2 (DMI2) protein functions as a coreceptor of rhizobial signals to initiate nodule development and rhizobial infection during nitrogen-fixing symbiosis, but the mechanisms regulating DMI2 protein level and folding are still unknown. Here, we report that DMI2 protein abundance changes during nitrogen-fixing symbiosis. DMI2 accumulates in the nodules and is induced by rhizobia treatment through a posttranscriptional process. However, DMI2 induction is independent of the perception of Nod factor, a group of lipochitooligosaccharides secreted by rhizobia. The stability of the DMI2 protein is controlled by the proteasome pathway: in rhizobia-free environments, DMI2 is degraded by the proteasome, but during rhizobial infection, DMI2 is protected from the proteasome, resulting in protein accumulation. Furthermore, proteasome inhibitor-promoted accumulation of DMI2 protein in Medicago roots induces the expression of two early nodulation marker genes, supporting the hypothesis that DMI2 accumulation activates downstream symbiosis signaling. The extracellular region of DMI2 contains two malectin-like domains (MLDs) and a leucine-rich repeat. When conserved amino acids in the MLDs are mutated, DMI2 fails to restore nodule development in dmi2 mutants, and point-mutated MLD proteins are degraded constitutively, suggesting that the MLD may be vital for the accumulation of DMI2. Our findings suggest that legumes control nodule development through modulating the protein level of DMI2, revealing a layer of regulation in the interaction between plants and rhizobia in nitrogen-fixing symbiosis.

Rhizosphere microbial community structure in high-producing, low-input switchgrass families.

Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) is a native, low-input North American perennial crop primarily grown for bioenergy, livestock forage, and industrial fiber. To achieve no-input switchgrass production that meets biomass needs, several switchgrass genotypes have been identified that have a low or negative response to nitrogen fertilizer, i.e., the biomass accumulation with added nitrogen is less than or equal to that when grown without nitrogen. In order to improve the viability of low-input switchgrass production, a more detailed understanding of the biogeochemical mechanisms active in these select genotypes is needed. 16S and ITS amplicon sequencing and qPCR of key functional genes were applied to switchgrass rhizospheres to elucidate microbial community structure in high-producing, no-input switchgrass families. Rhizosphere microbial community structure differed strongly between sites, and nitrogen responsiveness.

Tough love: accommodating intracellular bacteria through directed secretion of antimicrobial peptides during the nitrogen-fixing symbiosis.

The symbiosis formed by nitrogen-fixing bacteria with plant hosts mainly in the legume family involves a very intimate interaction. Within the symbiotic organ (the nodule) the bacteria are fully internalized by the host cell to become an intracellular organelle surrounded by a host-derived membrane. This arrangement is probably necessary for the efficient provision of energy and the sequestration of free oxygen molecules, two conditions required for sustained nitrogen fixation. Recent advances made in model legume species, such as Medicago truncatula, are beginning to uncover the genetic components allowing rhizobia to access the host cytoplasm and establish chronic intracellular infections without overt detrimental effects. It is now known that the rhizobial compartment in M. truncatula cells, the symbiosome, retains some features of the extracellular space as the target for a redirected host protein secretory pathway. A set of vesicle trafficking proteins function specifically in symbiotic cells to ensure the faithful delivery of secretory proteins to the intracellular bacteria, or bacteroid. This system is co-opted from the more ancient association with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi found in most land plants, highlighting the evolutionary origin of the legume-rhizobia symbiosis. In some legume lineages, this heightened capability to process secretory proteins is needed to deliver a large number of symbiosis-specific antimicrobial peptides to the bacteria. Known as NCR peptides, these molecules transform bacteroids into a state of terminal differentiation, where the microbe loses its ability to proliferate outside their host. Numbering in their hundreds, these peptides manipulate various aspects of rhizobial biology, and affect the outcome of this symbiosis in complex ways. The extreme size of the NCR peptide family seems to be the result of an evolutionary conflict between the two partners to extract maximum benefit from each other.