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Science 19 August 1988:
Vol. 241. no. 4868, pp. 951 - 954
DOI: 10.1126/science.241.4868.951
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Articles

Enhancement of Symbiotic Dinitrogen Fixation by a Toxin-Releasing Plant Pathogen

THOMAS J. KNIGHT 1 and PAT J. LANGSTON-UNKEFER 1

1 Isotope and Nuclear Chemistry Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87545.

An approximate doubling in plant growth, total plant nitrogen, nodulation, and overall dinitrogen fixation of alfalfa are the consequences of the action of a toxin delivered by a Pseudomonas infesting the alfalfa rhizosphere. The toxin, tabtoxinine-beta-lactam, inactivates selectively one form of glutamine synthetase in the nodules. Thus, normal glutamine synthetase-catalyzed ammonia assimilation is significantly impaired; yet these plants assimilated about twice the normal amount of nitrogen. How plants regulate dinitrogen fixing symbiotic associations is an important and unresolved question; the current results imply that the glutamine synthetase-catalyzed step in ammonia assimilation, a plant function, strongly influences overall dinitrogen fixation in legumes.

Submitted on February 29, 1988
Accepted on June 14, 1988


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Two Cytosolic Glutamine Synthetase Isoforms of Maize Are Specifically Involved in the Control of Grain Production.
A. Martin, J. Lee, T. Kichey, D. Gerentes, M. Zivy, C. Tatout, F. Dubois, T. Balliau, B. Valot, M. Davanture, et al. (2006)
PLANT CELL 18, 3252-3274
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Nodule-Specific Modulation of Glutamine Synthetase in Transgenic Medicago truncatula Leads to Inverse Alterations in Asparagine Synthetase Expression.
H. G. Carvalho, I. A. Lopes-Cardoso, L. M. Lima, P. M. Melo, and J. V. Cullimore (2003)
Plant Physiology 133, 243-252
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Does Lowering Glutamine Synthetase Activity in Nodules Modify Nitrogen Metabolism and Growth of Lotus japonicus?.
J. Harrison, M.-A. Pou de Crescenzo, O. Sene, and B. Hirel (2003)
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   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Nitrogen nutrition and the role of root-shoot nitrogen signalling particularly in symbiotic systems.
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Role of GOGAT in carbon and nitrogen partitioning in Rhizobium etli.
A. Castillo, H. Taboada, A. Mendoza, B. Valderrama, S. Encarnación, and J. Mora (2000)
Microbiology 146, 1627-1637
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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)