DisplayTitle

Casuarina glauca Prenodule Cells Display the Same Differentiation as the Corresponding Nodule Cells

¹Physiologie Cellulaire et Moléculaire des Arbres, Laboratoire GeneTrop, IRD, 911 avenue Agropolis, 34032 Montpellier Cedex 01, France; ²Department of Molecular Biology, Dreijenlaan 3, Agricultural University, 6703 HA Wageningen, The Netherlands; ³Albrecht-von-Haller-Institut für Pflanzenwissenschaften, Biochemie der Pflanze, Universitât Göttingen, Untere Karspüle 2, D-37073 Göttingen, Germany

Recent phylogenetic studies have implied that all plants able to enter root nodule symbioses with nitrogen-fixing bacteria go back to a common ancestor (D. E. Soltis, P. S. Soltis, D. R. Morgan, S. M. Swensen, B. C. Mullin, J. M. Dowd, and P. G. Martin, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 92:2647--2651, 1995). However, nodules formed by plants from different groups are distinct in nodule organogenesis and structure. In most groups, nodule organogenesis involves the induction of cortical cell divisions. In legumes these divisions lead to the formation of a nodule primordium, while in non-legumes they lead to the formation of a so-called prenodule consisting of infected and un-infected cells. Nodule primordium formation does not involve prenodule cells, and the function of prenodules is not known. Here, we examine the differentiation of actinorhizal prenodule cells in comparison to nodule cells with regard to both symbionts. Our findings indicate that prenodules represent primitive symbiotic organs whose cell types display the same characteristics as their nodule counterparts. The results are discussed in the context of the evolution of root nodule symbioses.

Additional keywords: actinorhiza, Frankia, hemoglobin, nifH, nitrogen fixation, symbiosis.