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Morphology and anatomy of root nodules of Retama monosperma (L.)Boiss.

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Abstract

Background and aims

In spite of the importance of Retama species for dune stabilization and re-vegetation and the contribution to the bio-fertilization of semi-arid and arid ecosystems, the symbiotic interaction of Retama species with rhizobia remains largely unstudied. In this paper, we aim to provide the first detailed study on nodule morphology and anatomy of Retama monosperma.

Methods

We collected nodules from coastal areas nearby Oran (Algeria) and studied in detail their anatomy and ultrastructure by light and electron microscopy.

Results

First, we confirmed the likely identity of the microsymbiont as B. retamae and found that nodules of R. monosperma belong to the genistoid type of indeterminate nodules. Infection threads, typical for most nodules of legumes, are absent in nodules of R. monosperma and bacterial spread is associated with plant cell division. The nitrogen fixation zone is homogenous with only invaded cells and a network of non-invaded cells found in many nodules, is absent. Moreover, endoreduplication does not take place in bacteroids in nodules of R. monosperma.

Conclusions

The features observed in this study are compared to the morphology and anatomy of nodules of other legumes and the possible consequences for nodule functioning and the mode of infection during the establishment of the interaction are discussed.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Frédéric Debellé for critically reading the manuscript. This work was supported by the French Laboratory of Excellence project “TULIP” (ANR-10-LABX-41); ANR-11-IDEX-0002-02).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire des Productions, Valorisations Végétales et Microbiennes (LP2VM), Département de Biotechnologies Végétales, Université des Sciences et de la Technologie d’Oran Mohamed Boudiaf, B.P. 1505, El-Mn’aour, Oran, 31000, Algeria

    Nawel Selami & Meriem Kaid-Harche

  2. INRA, Laboratoire des Interactions Plantes-Microorganismes (LIPM), UMR441, Castanet-Tolosan, 31326, France

    Marie-Christine Auriac, Olivier Catrice, Delphine Capela & Ton Timmers

  3. CNRS, Laboratoire des Interactions Plantes-Microorganismes (LIPM), UMR2594, Castanet-Tolosan, 31326, France

    Marie-Christine Auriac, Olivier Catrice, Delphine Capela & Ton Timmers

Authors
  1. Nawel Selami
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  2. Marie-Christine Auriac
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  3. Olivier Catrice
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  4. Delphine Capela
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  5. Meriem Kaid-Harche
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  6. Ton Timmers
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ton Timmers.

Additional information

Responsible Editor: Euan K. James.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Online resource 1

Sequences from 16S rRNA, atpD, glnII and RecA obtained from Retama monosperma nodules in FASTA format (PDF 24 kb)

Online resource 2

Blastn Alignments of 16S rRNA, atpD, glnII and RecA sequences with the homologous sequences of Bradyrhizobium retamae strain R7Q2. (PDF 42 kb)

Online resource 3

Semithin section of the apical region of a nodule of R. monosperma observed by fluorescence microscopy under UV excitation (ex: 365/12, em: LP397). The outer cortical cell walls have a strong autofluorescence indicative of lignification. The nodule endodermis also fluoresces strongly and is multilayered. Scale bar 400 μm. (JPEG 823 kb)

Online resource 4

Semithin sections of peripheral regions of nodules of R. monosperma showing the nodule endodermis under UV excitation (ex: 365/12, em: LP397) in A to C and the corresponding DIC images in D to E. A. Apical region close to the meristem. B. The middle region of the nodule. C. The basal part of the nodule close to the root. Scale bar 75 μm. (JPEG 1247 kb)

Online resource 5

Ploidy profiles of different organs of R. monosperma determined by flow cytometry. Only in nodules a low level of DNA endoreduplication is observed. (JPEG 675 kb)

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Selami, N., Auriac, MC., Catrice, O. et al. Morphology and anatomy of root nodules of Retama monosperma (L.)Boiss.. Plant Soil 379, 109–119 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-014-2045-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-014-2045-5

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