''Rhizobium leguminosarum'' is a bacterium which lives in a
mutualistic symbiotic relationship with
legume
Legumes are plants in the pea family Fabaceae (or Leguminosae), or the fruit or seeds of such plants. When used as a dry grain for human consumption, the seeds are also called pulses. Legumes are grown agriculturally, primarily for human consum ...
s, and has the ability to
fix free nitrogen from the air.
''R. leguminosarum'' has been very thoroughly studied—it has been the subject of more than a thousand publications.
Morphology
''Rhizobium leguminosarum'' is a Gram-negative, motile, rod-shaped, aerobic bacterium.
Common biovars
''Rhizobium leguminosarum'' biovar ''trifolii'', and ''R. leguminosarum'' biovar ''viciae'' are the most commonly studied
biovar
A biovar is a variant prokaryotic Strain (biology), strain that differs physiologically or biochemically from other strains in a particular species. Morphovars (or morphotypes) are those strains that differ morphologically. Serovars (or serotypes ...
s of ''R. leguminosarum'', with certain studies seemingly treating ''R. trifolii'' as its own species.
Fatty acid synthesis
''Rhizobium leguminosarum''s
acyl carrier protein differs from most ACPs by having a
C-terminus
The C-terminus (also known as the carboxyl-terminus, carboxy-terminus, C-terminal tail, carboxy tail, C-terminal end, or COOH-terminus) is the end of an amino acid chain (protein
Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comp ...
extension. This ACP is also used in the synthesis of unusually long ACPs which themselves are then used in the synthesis of the ''R. leguminosarum''
nod factor.
Uses
''R. leguminosarum'' is widely used in the inoculation of legume seeds. The sv. trifolii strain U204 is commercially used to inoculate white and red clover in particular, but better strains for this purpose are being developed.
Research has been carried out into the role that ''R. leguminosarum'' could play in promoting growth of canola and lettuce.
References
External links
Type strain of ''Rhizobium leguminosarum'' at Bac''Dive'' - the Bacterial Diversity Metadatabase
Rhizobiaceae
{{Hyphomicrobiales-stub