Abstract
Ensifer meliloti WSM1022 is an aerobic, motile, Gram-negative, non-spore-forming rod that can exist as a soil saprophyte or as a legume microsymbiont of Medicago. WSM1022 was isolated in 1987 from a nodule recovered from the roots of the annual Medicago orbicularis growing on the Cyclades Island of Naxos in Greece. WSM1022 is highly effective at fixing nitrogen with M. truncatula and other annual species such as M. tornata and M. littoralis and is also highly effective with the perennial M. sativa (alfalfa or lucerne). In common with other characterized E. meliloti strains, WSM1022 will nodulate but fixes poorly with M. polymorpha and M. sphaerocarpos and does not nodulate M. murex. Here we describe the features of E. meliloti WSM1022, together with genome sequence information and its annotation. The 6,649,661 bp high-quality-draft genome is arranged into 121 scaffolds of 125 contigs containing 6,323 protein-coding genes and 75 RNA-only encoding genes, and is one of 100 rhizobial genomes sequenced as part of the DOE Joint Genome Institute 2010 Genomic Encyclopedia for Bacteria and Archaea-Root Nodule Bacteria (GEBA-RNB) project.
Highlights
An available source of nitrogen (N) is essential to life on Earth
The atmosphere consists of approximately 80% N, the overwhelming proportion of this is present in the form of dinitrogen (N2) which is biologically inaccessible to the vast majority of higher organisms
E. meliloti WSM1022 is a broadly effective microsymbiont of Medicago spp. and as such represents a unique tool for the molecular analysis of effective N2 fixation with fully sequenced macroand microsymbionts
Summary
An available source of nitrogen (N) is essential to life on Earth. the atmosphere consists of approximately 80% N, the overwhelming proportion of this is present in the form of dinitrogen (N2) which is biologically inaccessible to the vast majority of higher organisms. The fact that plant growth is most commonly limited by the availability of N may have provided the selective pressure for a wide range of plant genera, most of which are legumes, to evolve a symbiotic relationship with these N2-fixing microbes. These microsymbionts, collectively termed root nodule bacteria, receive a carbon source from the plant and in return supply the host with biologically fixed N. Ensifer meliloti and E. medicae are known to nodulate and fix N2 with Medicago spp
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