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JXB Advance Access originally published online on January 21, 2008
Journal of Experimental Botany 2008 59(5):1081-1084; doi:10.1093/jxb/erm286
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© The Author [2008]. Published by Oxford University Press [on behalf of the Society for Experimental Biology]. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

REVIEW-ARTICLE

60Ma of legume nodulation. What's new? What's changing?

Janet I. Sprent*

Division of Applied and Environmental Biology, University of Dundee, Dundee DD1 4HN, Scotland, UK

* E-mail: jisprent{at}aol.com

Current evidence suggests that legumes evolved about 60 million years ago. Genetic material for nodulation was recruited from existing DNA, often following gene duplication. The initial process of infection probably did not involve either root hairs or infection threads. From this initial event, two branched pathways of nodule developmental processes evolved, one involving and one not involving the development of infection threads to ‘escort’ bacteria to young nodule cells. Extant legumes have a wide range of nodule structures and at least 25% of them do not have infection threads. The latter have uniform infected tissue whereas those that have infection threads have infected cells interspersed with uninfected (interstitial) cells. Each type of nodule may develop indeterminately, with an apical meristem, or show determinate growth. These nodule structures are host determined and are largely congruent with taxonomic position. In addition to variation on the plant side, the last 10 years have seen the recognition of many new types of ‘rhizobia’, bacteria that can induce nodulation and fix nitrogen. It is not yet possible to fit these into the emerging pattern of nodule evolution.

Key words: Burkholderia, Cupriavidus, legume, nitrogen fixation, nodule, rhizobia

Received 5 June 2007; Revised 22 October 2007 Accepted 23 October 2007


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