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Bradyrhizobium japonicum Mutants with Enhanced Sensitivity to Genistein Resulting in Altered nod Gene Regulation

¹Department of Biology, University of Waterloo, 200 University Avenue West, Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3G1, Canada; ²Department of Natural Resource Sciences, McGill University, 21,111 Lakeshore Road, Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, Quebec H9X 3V9, Canada; ³Department of Plant Science, McGill University, 21,111 Lakeshore Road, Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, QC H9X 3V9, Canada

Bradyrhizobium japonicum mutants with altered nod gene induction characteristics were isolated by screening mutants for genistein-independent nod gene expression. Plasmid pZB32, carrying a nodY∷lacZ transcriptional gene fusion, was introduced into B. japonicum cells that had been subjected to UV mutagenesis. Ten independent transformants producing a blue color on plates containing 5-bromo-4chloro-3indolyl-β-d-galactopyranoside but lacking genistein, indicative of constitutive expression of the nodY∷lacZ reporter gene, were isolated. β-Galactosidase activity assays revealed that while all of the 10 strains were sensitive to low concentrations of genistein, none exhibited truly constitutive nodY∷lacZ expression in liquid culture. Soybean plants inoculated with three of the mutants were chlorotic and stunted, with shoot dry weights close to those of the uninoculated plants, indicating the absence of nitrogen fixation. Differences in the kinetics of nodY∷lacZ expression and lipochitin oligosaccharide Nod signal production suggested that the strains carried different mutations. Some of these strains may be useful in mitigating the low root zone temperature-associated delay in soybean nodulation at the northern extent of soybean cultivation.