"NSP-like and nin-like genes are involved in the association between arabidopsis thaliana and Nitrogen fixing bacteria".

Abstract

Nitrogen acquisition in plants by the association with nitrogen fixing bacteria (NFB) have been mostly studied in legumes. Plant regulatory mechanisms are essential for a successful association and nodule development. Non-legume plants are unable to form nodules and it is unknown the extent to which they can or cannot establish functional associations with NFB and the molecular regulatory mechanisms involved. Our goal was to evaluate a functional association between Arabidopsis thaliana and NFB to develop a model system in which to study and identify molecular mechanisms underlying non-legumes and NFB association. Our results indicate Arabidopsis associates with NFB, some of which enhance nitrogen nutrition and plant growth through biological nitrogen fixation. In addition, we identified conserved plant transcription factors that are essential in the molecular mechanism required for functional association between non\2013legumes plants and NFB. We propose Arabidopsis and selected NFB as an excellent model system to identifying key regulatory networks in non-legumes and NFB association.