Plasmid transfer systems in the rhizobia

Abstract

Rhizobia are agriculturally important bacteria that can form nitrogen-fixing nodules on the roots of leguminous plants. Agricultural application of rhizobial inoculants can play an important role in increasing leguminous crop yields. In temperate rhizobia, genes involved in nodulation and nitrogen fixation are usually located on one or more large plasmids (pSyms) or on symbiotic islands. In addition, other large plasmids of rhizobia carry genes that are beneficial for survival and competition of rhizobia in the rhizosphere. Conjugative transfer of these large plasmids thus plays an important role in the evolution of rhizobia. Therefore, understanding the mechanism of conjugative transfer of large rhizobial plasmids provides foundations for maintaining, monitoring, and predicting the behaviour of these plasmids during field release events. In this minireview, we summarize two types of known rhizobial conjugative plasmids, including quorum sensing regulated plasmids and RctA-repressed plasmids. We provide evidence for the existence of a third type of conjugative plasmid, including pRleVF39c in Rhizobium leguminosarum bv. viciae strain VF39SM, and we provide a comparison of the different types of conjugation genes found in members of the rhizobia that have had their genomes sequenced so far.