Morphogenesis of root nodules in white clover. II. The effect of mutation in genes nod IJ of the microsymbiont upon the nodule structure

Abstract

Morphogenesis of ineffective root nodules initiated on the roots of white clover 'Astra' by the Rhizobium leguminosarum biovar. trifolii strains ANU261 (Tn5 insertion in nod 1 gene) and ANU262 (Tn5 insertion in nod J gene) was investigated. Following changes were observed, as compared to the wild-type nodulation: the exaggerated, not delayed reaction of root hairs; the delay in nodulation with the number of nodules the same as in plants inoculated with a wild strain; the formation and organization of the nodule primordium not changed in comparison with the wild-type nodules; infection threads abnormally branched and diffusing with bacteria deprived of light zone and enriched with storage material; infected cells of bacteroidal tissue abnormally strongly osmiophilic and only slightly vacuolated; symbiosomes with very narrowed peribacteroidal space, subject to premature degradation; abnormal accumulation of starch in the nodule tissues; nodule development blocked at the stage of laterally situated meristem and single nodule bundle; inhibition of divisions in the meristem and vacuolation of its cells; the appearance of single cells with colonies of saprophytic rhizobia embedded in the fibrillar matrix in the old, degraded regions of the bacteroidal tissue.