Diversifying selection by Desmodiinae legume species on Bradyrhizobium symbionts.

Abstract

Desmodium and Hylodesmum (Papilionoideae Subtribe Desmodiinae) are among the most common herbaceous perennial legumes native to eastern North America. To analyze the population structure of their Bradyrhizobium sp. root-nodule bacteria, 159 isolates were sampled from ten host species across a 1000 km region. Phylogenetic analysis of four housekeeping loci (2164 bp) and two loci in the symbiosis island (SI) chromosomal region (1374 bp) indicated extensive overlap in symbiont utilization, with each common bacterial clade found on 2-7 species of these legume genera. However, host species differed considerably in the relative proportion of symbionts belonging to different Bradyrhizobium clades. High phylogenetic incongruence between trees for housekeeping loci and SI loci suggested that diversification of these Bradyrhizobium lineages involved substantial horizontal gene transfer. Plant inoculation with strains from six Bradyrhizobium clades revealed marked disparity in relative bacterial reproductive success across four Desmodium species. Estimated yield of Bradyrhizobium progeny cells per plant ranged from zero to >10(9), and strains with high fitness on one host sometimes reproduced poorly on other host species. Diversifying selection on bacteria, arising from differential success in habitats with different Desmodium and Hylodesmum taxa, is therefore likely to affect Bradyrhizobium diversity patterns at the landscape level.