Soil characteristics determine the rhizobia in association with different species of Mimosa in central Brazil

Abstract

To evaluate the influence of soil type on the symbiosis between Mimosa spp. and rhizobia. A greenhouse experiment was carried out with trap plants using seeds of six species of Mimosa and soils from three different locations in central Brazil: Posse, Brasilia and Cavalcante. Plant dry biomass and number of nodules were measured after four months. Symbiotic bacteria were isolated from nodules and their molecular identification was performed. Three housekeeping genes (16S rRNA, recA and gyrB) plus the nodC and nifH symbiotic genes were used to determine the identity of the symbionts and to reconstruct the phylogenetic relationships among the isolated nitrogen-fixing bacteria. Rhizobia from the Betaproteobacterial genus Paraburkholderia (former Burkholderia) and the Alphaproteobacterial genus Rhizobium were isolated from different species of Mimosa. As in previous studies, the phylogenies of their symbiosis-essential genes, nodC and nifH, were broadly congruent with their core housekeeping genes (16S rRNA, recA and gyrB), which suggests limited or no horizontal gene transfer. Edaphic factors such as pH and fertility influenced the occurrence of these unrelated rhizobial types in the nodules on these Mimosa spp. Mimosa species have the ability to associate with different types of rhizobia (α- and β-proteobacteria), suggesting low specificity between host and bacterium in experimental conditions. Soil factors such as pH, nitrogen and fertility seem to favour the predominance of certain types of rhizobia, thus influencing the establishment of symbiotic relationships.