Publications

unusual heme binding in the bacterial iron response regulator protein: spectral characterization of heme binding to the heme regulatory motif.	we characterized heme binding in the bacterial iron response regulator (irr) protein, which is a simple heme-regulated protein having a single "heme-regulatory motif", hrm, and plays a key role in the iron homeostasis of a nitrogen-fixing bacterium. the heme titration to wild-type and mutant irr clearly showed that irr has two heme binding sites: one of the heme binding sites is in the hrm, where (29)cys is the axial ligand, and the other one, the secondary heme binding site, is located outside ...	2011	21192735
inoculation- and nitrate-induced cle peptides of soybean control nark-dependent nodule formation.	systemic autoregulation of nodulation in legumes involves a root-derived signal (q) that is perceived by a clavata1-like leucine-rich repeat receptor kinase (e.g. gmnark). perception of q triggers the production of a shoot-derived inhibitor that prevents further nodule development. we have identified three candidate cle peptide-encoding genes (gmric1, gmric2, and gmnic1) in soybean (glycine max) that respond to bradyrhizobium japonicum inoculation or nitrate treatment. ectopic overexpression of ...	2011	21198362
bradyrhizobium cytisi sp. nov. isolated from effective nodules of cytisus villosus in morocco.	several strains isolated from cytisus villosus nodules have been characterized on the basis of diverse genetic, phenotypic and symbiotic approaches. according to their 16s rrna genes they formed a group closely related to bradyrhizobium canariense bta-1(t) with 99.4% identity. the analysis of three housekeeping genes reca, atpd and glnii, suggested that the c. villosus strains represent a new bradyrhizobium species whose closest relative is also b. canariense bta-1(t) with 94.2, 96.7 and 94.5% i ...	2011	21257682
emerging complexity in the denitrification regulatory network of bradyrhizobium japonicum.	bradyrhizobium japonicum is a gram-negative soil bacterium symbiotically associated with soya bean plants, which is also able to denitrify under free-living and symbiotic conditions. in b. japonicum, the napedabc, nirk, norcbqd and nosrzdyflx genes which encode reductases for nitrate, nitrite, nitric oxide and nitrous oxide respectively are required for denitrification. similar to many other denitrifiers, expression of denitrification genes in b. japonicum requires both oxygen limitation and the ...	2011	21265789
substrate specificity of haloalkane dehalogenases.	an enzyme's substrate specificity is one of its most important characteristics. the quantitative comparison of broad-specificity enzymes requires the selection of a homogenous set of substrates for experimental testing, determination of substrate-specificity data and analysis using multivariate statistics. we describe a systematic analysis of the substrate specificities of nine wild-type and four engineered haloalkane dehalogenases. the enzymes were characterized experimentally using a set of 30 ...	2011	21294712
genetic diversity of nodulating and non-nodulating rhizobia associated with wild soybean (glycine soja sieb. & zucc.) in different ecoregions of china.	a total of 99 bacterial isolates that originated from root nodules of glycine soja were characterized with restriction analyses of amplified 16s ribosomal dna and 16s-23s rdna intergenic spacers (its), and sequence analyses of 16s rrna, rpob, atpd, reca and nodc genes. when tested for nodulation of g. soja, 72 of the isolates were effective symbionts, and these belonged to five species: bradyrhizobium japonicum, bradyrhizobium elkanii, bradyrhizobium yuanmingense, bradyrhizobium liaoningense and ...	2011	21303397
phairyred: a novel binary vector containing the dsred2 reporter gene for visual selection of transgenic hairy roots.	we developed a new plant transformation vector, phairyred, for enabling high throughput, non-destructive selection of agrobacterium rhizogenes-mediated 'hairy-root' transformation. phairyred allows easy in planta visualization of transgenic tissue with minimal disturbance to the plant. the dsred2 reporter gene, encoding a red fluorescent protein, was cloned to yield phairyred (harbouring a multiple cloning site), which was used with the highly efficient k599 a. rhizogenes strain to infect soybea ...	2011	21324970
molecular structure and gene analysis of ce3+ -induced methanol dehydrogenase of bradyrhizobium sp. maff211645.	the molecular structure and nucleotide sequence of ce(3+)-induced methanol dehydrogenase (mdh) of bradyrhizobium sp. maff211645 were investigated. the addition of 30 µm ce(3+) to 1/10 nutrient broth containing 0.5% methanol remarkably increased mdh activity. furthermore, la(3+) increased mdh activity, but other heavier rare earth and metal elements did not have the same effect. mdh increased by ce(3+) was purified by sequential column chromatography, and the purified mdh migrated as a single ban ...	2011	21334970
glyceollin, a soybean phytoalexin with medicinal properties.	this review covers the biosynthesis of glyceollin and its biological activities including antiproliferative/antitumor action (toward b16 melanoma cells, lncap prostate cancer cells, and bg-1 ovarian cancer cells), anti-estrogenic action (through estrogen receptors a- and ß-), antibacterial action (toward erwinia carotovora, escherichia coli, bradyrhizobium japonicum, sinorhizobium fredii ), antinematode activity, and antifungal activity (toward fusarium solani, phakospora pachyrhizi, diaporthe p ...	2011	21336922
diversity and biogeography of rhizobia isolated from root nodules of glycine max grown in hebei province, china.	a total of 215 rhizobial strains were isolated and analyzed with 16s rrna gene, 16s-23s intergenic spacer, housekeeping genes atpd, reca, and glnii, and symbiotic genes nifh and nodc to understand the genetic diversity of soybean rhizobia in hebei province, china. all the strains except one were symbiotic bacteria classified into nine genospecies in the genera of bradyrhizobium and sinorhizobium. surveys on the distribution of these rhizobia in different regions showed that bradyrhizobium japoni ...	2011	21340735
phylogeny of nodulation and nitrogen-fixation genes in bradyrhizobium: supporting evidences for the theory of monophyletic origin and spread and maintenance by both horizontal and vertical transfer.	bacteria belonging to the genus bradyrhizobium are capable of establishing symbiotic relationships with a broad range of plants belonging to the three subfamilies of the leguminosae (=fabaceae) family, with the formation of specialized structures on the roots, the nodules, where fixation of atmospheric nitrogen takes place. the symbiosis is under the control of a finely tuned expression of common and host-specific nodulation genes and also of genes related to the assembly and activity of the nit ...	2011	21357454
effect of pesticides on plant growth promoting traits of greengram-symbiont, bradyrhizobium sp. strain mrm6.	the aim of this study was to investigate the toxicity of herbicides (metribuzin and glyphosate), insecticides (imidacloprid and thiamethoxam) and fungicides (hexaconazole, metalaxyl and kitazin) at the recommended and the higher dose rates on plant growth promoting activities of bradyrhizobium sp. under in vitro conditions. the bradyrhizobium sp. strain mrm6 was isolated from nodules of greengram plants. pesticide-concentration dependent progressive-decline was observed in plant growth promoting ...	2011	21359648
does a facultative mutualism limit species range expansion?	the availability and quality of mutualists beyond a species' range edge may limit range expansion. with the legume chamaecrista fasciculata, we asked to what extent the availability and quality of rhizobia beyond the range edge limits host range expansion. we tested the effect of rhizobia availability on plant growth by transplanting seed from three locations into five sites spanning c. fasciculata's range (interior, at the northern and western range edges, and beyond the range edges), and inocu ...	2011	21380848
genetic characterization of root-nodule bacteria associated with acacia salicina and a. stenophylla (mimosaceae) across south-eastern australia.	symbiotic relationships between legumes and nitrogen-fixing soil micro-organisms are of ecological importance in plant communities worldwide. for example, nutrient-poor australian soils are often dominated by shrubby legumes (e.g. species of acacia). however, relatively few studies have quantified patterns of diversity, host-specificity and effectiveness of these ecologically important plant-microbe interactions. in this study, 16s rrna gene sequence and pcr-rflp analyses were used to examine ba ...	2011	20228207
A Role for Bradyrhizobium japonicum ECF16 Sigma Factor EcfS in the Formation of a Functional Symbiosis with Soybean.	Alternative sigma (s) factors, proteins that recruit RNA polymerase core enzyme to target promoters, are one mechanism by which bacteria transcriptionally regulate groups of genes in response to environmental stimuli. A class of s(70) proteins, termed extracytoplasmic function (ECF) s factors, are involved in cellular processes such as bacterial stress responses and virulence. Here, we describe an ECF16 s factor, EcfS (Blr4928) from the gram-negative soil bacterium Bradyrhizobium japonicum USDA1 ...	2012	21879796
mercury-resistant rhizobial bacteria isolated from nodules of leguminous plants growing in high hg-contaminated soils.	a survey of symbiotic bacteria from legumes grown in high mercury-contaminated soils (almadén, spain) was performed to produce a collection of rhizobia which could be well adapted to the environmental conditions of this region and be used for restoration practices. nineteen hg-tolerant rhizobia were isolated from nodules of 11 legume species (of the genera medicago, trifolium, vicia, lupinus, phaseolus, and retama) and characterized. based on their growth on hg-supplemented media, the isolates w ...	2012	22246528
Unique structural features and sequence motifs of proline utilization A (PutA).	Proline utilization A proteins (PutAs) are bifunctional enzymes that catalyze the oxidation of proline to glutamate using spatially separated proline dehydrogenase and pyrroline-5-carboxylate dehydrogenase active sites. Here we use the crystal structure of the minimalist PutA from Bradyrhizobium japonicum (BjPutA) along with sequence analysis to identify unique structural features of PutAs. This analysis shows that PutAs have secondary structural elements and domains not found in the related mon ...	2012	22201760
Efficient electricity generation from sewage sludge usingbiocathode microbial fuel cell.	Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) with abiotic cathodes require expensive catalyst (such as Pt) or catholyte (such as hexacynoferrate) to facilitate oxidation reactions. This study incorporated biocathodes into a three-chamber MFC to yield electricity from sewage sludge at maximum power output of 13.2±1.7W/m(3) during polarization, much higher than those previously reported. After 15d operation, the total chemical oxygen demand (TCOD) removal and coulombic efficiency (CE) of cell reached 40.8±9.0% and ...	2012	22078254
Phylogenetic diversity and symbiotic functioning in mungbean (Vigna radiata L. Wilczek) bradyrhizobia from contrast agro-ecological regions of Nepal.	Nepal consists wide range of climatic and topographical variations. Here, we explored the phylogeny of native mungbean bradyrhizobia isolated from different agro-ecological regions of Nepal and accessed their nodulation and nitrogen fixation characteristics. Soil samples were collected from three agro-ecological regions with contrasting climate and topography. A local mungbean cultivar, Kalyan, was used as a trap plant. We characterized isolates based on the full nucleotide sequence of the 16S r ...	2012	22178390