Abstract
With continuous cultures in a fully defined minimal salts medium steady states were achieved at both limiting and non-limiting concentrations of phosphate in the inflowing medium for Rhizobium trifolii WU95, cowpea Rhizobium NGR234, and Bradyrhizobium CB756.
Millimolar growth yields obtained from P-limited cultures varied over 2-fold from 3.2 g dry weight·(mmol P)-1 for WU95 to 5.3 g dry weight·(mmol P)-1 for CB756 and 7.2 g dry weight·(mmol P)-1 for NGR234.
For both WU95 and NGR234 growth under P-excess conditions resulted in elevated levels of total biomass P and the storage compound polyphosphate, compared with P-limited cultures. However, P-limited cultures of these two strains still contained significant quantities of polyphosphate. The P-status for CB756 cultures did not affect either total biomass P or polyphosphate levels. Alkaline phosphatase was maximally derepressed in P-limited cultures of WU95 and NGR234. However, in CB756 alkaline phosphatase was not detected at significant levels regardless of its P supply.
These data suggest that growth of rhizobia is controlled predominantly by the attainment of a critical internal P level.
Similar content being viewed by others
Abbreviations
- HEPES:
-
N-2-hydroxyethylpiperazine-N′-2-ethane sulphonic acid
References
Bieleski RL (1973) Phosphate pools, phosphate transport, and phosphate availability. Ann Rev Plant Physiol 24:225–252
Brown CM, Dilworth MJ (1975) Ammonia assimilation by Rhizobium cultures and bacteroids. J Gen Microbiol 86:39–48
Cassman KG, Munns DN, Beck DP (1981a) Phosphorus nutrition of Rhizobium japonicum: strain differences in phosphate storage and utilization. Soil Sci Soc Am J 45:517–520
Cassman KG, Munns DN, Beck DP (1981b) Growth of Rhizobium strains at low concentrations of phosphate. Soil Sci Soc Am J 45:520–523
Cheng KJ, Ingram JM, Costerton JW (1970) Release of alkaline phosphatase from cells of Pseudomonas aeruginosa by manipulation of cation concentration and of pH. J Bacteriol 104:748–753
Craig AS, Greenwood RM, Williamson KI (1973) Ultrastructural inclusions of rhizobial bacteroids of Lotus nodules and their taxonomic significance. Arch Mikrobiol 89:23–32
Glenn AR, Dilworth MJ (1979) An examination of Rhizobium leguminosarum for the production of extracellular and periplasmic proteins. J Gen Microbiol 112:405–409
Glenn AR, Dilworth MJ (1980) The effect of metal ions on the alkaline phosphatase of Rhizobium leguminosarum. Arch Microbiol 126:251–256
Glenn AR, Poole PS, Hudman JF (1980) Succinate uptake by freeliving and bacteroid forms of Rhizobium leguminosarum. J Gen Microbiol 119:267–271
Isaac RA, Johnson WC (1975) Collaborative study of wet and dry ashing techniques for the elemental analysis of plant tissue by atomic absorption spectrophotometry. J Ass Off Anal Chemists 58:436–440
Jordan DC (1982) Transfer of Rhizobium japonicum Buchanan 1980 to Bradyrhizobium gen. nov., a genus of slow-growing, root nodule bacteria from leguminous plants. Int J Syst Bacteriol 32:136–139
Keyser HH, Munns DN (1979) Tolerance of rhizobia to acidity, aluminium and phosphate. Soil Sci Soc Am J 43:519–523
McGrath JF, Robson AD (1984) The influence of zine supply to seedlings of Pinus radiata D. Don on the internal transport of recently absorbed zinc. Austral J Plant Physiol 11:165–178
Penney CL (1976) A simple microassay for inorganic phosphate. Anal Biochem 75:201–210
Reisenauer HM (1966) Concentrations of nutrient ions in soil solution. In: Altman PH (ed) Environmental biology. Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, Bethesda, pp 507–508
Smart JB, Dilworth MJ, Robson AD (1984) Effect of phosphorus supply on phosphate uptake and alkaline phosphatase activity in rhizobia. Arch Microbiol 140:281–286
Truesdell HW (1917) The effect of phosphorus on alfalfa and alfalfa bacteria. Soil Sci 3:77–98
Vincent JM (1977) Rhizobium — General microbiology. In: Hardy RWE, Silver WS (eds) A treatise on dinitrogen fixation, III. John Wiley and Sons, New York, pp 277–366
Weimberg R, Orton WL (1965) Synthesis and breakdown of the polyphosphate fraction and acid phosphomonoesterase of Saccharomyces mellis and their locations in the cell. J Bacteriol 89:740–747
Willsky GR, Malamy MH (1976) Control of the synthesis of alkaline phosphatase and the phosphate-binding protein in Escherichia coli. J Bacteriol 127:595–609
Zaroug NG, Munns DN (1979) Nodulation and growth of Lablab purpureus (Dolichos lablab) in relation to Rhizobium strain, liming and phosphorus. Plant and Soil 53:329–339
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Smart, J.B., Robson, A.D. & Dilworth, M.J. A continuous culture study of the phosphorus nutrition of Rhizobium trifollii WU95, Rhizobium NGR234 and Bradyrhizobium CB756. Arch. Microbiol. 140, 276–280 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00454942
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00454942