Abstract
Rhizobia are bacteria that exhibit both endophytic and free-living lifestyles. Endophytic rhizobial strains are widely known to infect leguminous host plants, while some do infect non-legumes. Infection of leguminous roots often results in the formation of root nodules. Associations between rhizobia and host plants may result in beneficial or non-beneficial effects. Such effects are linked to various biochemical changes that have far-reaching implications on relationships between host plants and the dependent multitrophic biodiversity. This paper explores relationships that exist between rhizobia and various plant species. Emphasis is on nutritional and phytochemical changes that occur in rhizobial host plants, and how such changes affect diverse consumers at different trophic levels. The purpose of this paper is to bring into context various aspects of such interactions that could improve knowledge on the application of rhizobia in different fields. The relevance of rhizobia in sustainable food systems is addressed in context.
Highlights
Rhizobium is a group of bacteria that were first described in the year 1889 by the German botanist Dr Albert Bernhard Frank (1839-1900) (Hassen et al, 2020)
Rhizobium redefines autotrophy in leguminous plants and their interactions with various consumers. This is because root infection by rhizobia triggers variations in chemical composition of host plants that may be expressed in gaseous forms such as volatile organic compounds (VOCs) (Ballhorn et al, 2013), aqueous form including cellular fluids and root exudates (Karoney et al, 2020; Tian et al, 2020), as well as solid forms like cell walls (Fournier et al, 2015; Gigli-Bisceglia et al, 2020)
Plants are autotrophs equipped with two photosynthetic machineries in the thylakoid membrane inside the chloroplasts (Nelson and Junge, 2015), with the light reaction occurring in the grana of chloroplasts producing energy molecules (Mullineaux, 2005), and the dark reaction located in the stroma of chloroplasts (Poolman et al, 2003)
Summary
Rhizobium is a group of bacteria that were first described in the year 1889 by the German botanist Dr Albert Bernhard Frank (1839-1900) (Hassen et al, 2020). Rhizobium redefines autotrophy in leguminous plants and their interactions with various consumers This is because root infection by rhizobia triggers variations in chemical composition of host plants that may be expressed in gaseous forms such as volatile organic compounds (VOCs) (Ballhorn et al, 2013), aqueous form including cellular fluids and root exudates (Karoney et al, 2020; Tian et al, 2020), as well as solid forms like cell walls (Fournier et al, 2015; Gigli-Bisceglia et al, 2020). Such interactions have been put into the perspective of Sustainable Food Systems in agroecosystems
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