Multichromosomal Genome Structure and Confirmation of Diazotrophy in Novel Plant-Associated Burkholderia Species

• Published in: Applied and Environmental Microbiology Vol. 74; no. 14; pp. 4574 - 4579
• Main Authors: Martínez-Aguilar, Lourdes, Díaz, Rafael, Peña-Cabriales, Juan José, Estrada-de los Santos, Paulina, Dunn, Michael F, Caballero-Mellado, Jesús
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Society for Microbiology 01.07.2008; American Society for Microbiology (ASM)
• Subjects: Base Sequence; Biological and medical sciences; Burkholderia; Burkholderia - classification; Burkholderia - enzymology; Burkholderia - genetics; Chromosomes; Chromosomes, Bacterial - genetics; DNA, Bacterial - isolation & purification; Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field; Evolutionary and Genomic Microbiology; Flowers & plants; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Genome, Bacterial; Genomics; Isotopes; Microbiology; Molecular Sequence Data; Nitrogen Fixation; Nucleic Acid Hybridization; Oxidoreductases - genetics; Phylogeny; Plants - microbiology; Polymerase Chain Reaction; Ribonucleic acid; RNA; RNA, Ribosomal, 16S - isolation & purification; Sequence Analysis, DNA; Soil Microbiology; Bacteria; Burkholderia; Genome; Structure; Diazotrophy
• ISSN: 0099-2240; 1098-5336; 1098-6596
• DOI: 10.1128/AEM.00201-08

Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis and 16S rRNA hybridization experiments showed that multichromosome genome structures and very large genome sizes (6.46 to 8.73 Mb) are prevalent in novel plant-associated Burkholderia species. ¹⁵N₂ isotope dilution assays revealed unambiguous diazotrophy in these novel species. nifH gene sequence analysis, often used to determine phylogenetic relatedness among diazotrophs, showed tight clusters of Burkholderia species, which were clearly distinct from those of other diazotrophs.