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Nod Factors of Azorhizobium caulinodans Strain ORS571 Can Be Glycosylated with an Arabinosyl Group, a Fucosyl Group, or Both

¹Laboratorium voor Genetica, Department of Genetics, Flanders Interuniversity Institute for Biotechnology (VIB), Universiteit Gent, K.L. Ledeganckstraat 35, B-9000 Gent, Belgium; ²Laboratoire de Pharmacologie et Toxicologie Fondamentales, Spectrometrie de Masse et Signaux Biologiques, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, 205, route de Narbonne, F-31077 Toulouse Cedex, France

In addition to the previously described arabinosylated Nod factors, Azorhizobium caulinodans can also produce fucosylated Nod factors and Nod factors that are both arabinosylated and fucosylated. The presence of a plasmid carrying extra copies of a subset of nod genes as well as bacterial growth conditions influence the relative proportion of carbamoylated, fucosylated, and arabinosylated Nod factors. By using a root hair formation assay, we demonstrate that the Nod factor glycosylations are important for biological activity on Sesbania rostrata roots.