Light availability and rhizobium variation interactively mediate the outcomes of legume–rhizobium symbiosis

Light availability and rhizobium variation interactively mediate the outcomes of legume–rhizobium symbiosis

Premise Nutrients, light, water, and temperature are key factors limiting the growth of individual plants in nature. Mutualistic interactions between plants and microbes often mediate resource limitation for both partners. In the mutualism between legumes and rhizobia, plants provide rhizobia with c...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:American journal of botany Vol. 107; no. 2; pp. 229 - 238
Main Authors: Heath, Katy D., Podowski, Justin C., Heniff, Stephanie, Klinger, Christie R., Burke, Patricia V., Weese, Dylan J., Yang, Wendy H., Lau, Jennifer A.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: United States Botanical Society of America, Inc 01-02-2020
Subjects:
Availability
Cost benefit analysis
Fabaceae
Genetic diversity
genetic variation
Genotype
Genotypes
Host plants
Inoculum
Interspecific
isotopes
Legumes
Leguminous plants
Light
Microorganisms
Mutualism
Nitrogen Fixation
Nutrient availability
Nutrients
Phenotypes
Plant growth
plant–microbe interactions
Quality
resource
Rhizobium
Rhizobium leguminosarum
Symbionts
Symbiosis
trade
plant-microbe interactions
trade
resource
isotopes
symbiosis
genetic variation
Rhizobium leguminosarum
Fabaceae
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Premise Nutrients, light, water, and temperature are key factors limiting the growth of individual plants in nature. Mutualistic interactions between plants and microbes often mediate resource limitation for both partners. In the mutualism between legumes and rhizobia, plants provide rhizobia with carbon in exchange for fixed nitrogen. Because partner quality in mutualisms is genotype‐dependent, within‐species genetic variation is expected to alter the responses of mutualists to changes in the resource environment. Here we ask whether partner quality variation in rhizobia mediates the response of host plants to changing light availability, and conversely, whether light alters the expression of partner quality variation. Methods We inoculated clover hosts with 11 strains of Rhizobium leguminosarum that differed in partner quality, grew plants under either ambient or low light conditions in the greenhouse, and measured plant growth, nodule traits, and foliar nutrient composition. Results Light availability and rhizobium inoculum interactively determined plant growth, and variation in rhizobium partner quality was more apparent in ambient light. Conclusions Our results suggest that variation in the costs and benefits of rhizobium symbionts mediate host responses to light availability and that rhizobium strain variation might more important in higher‐light environments. Our work adds to a growing appreciation for the role of microbial intraspecific and interspecific diversity in mediating extended phenotypes in their hosts and suggests an important role for light availability in the ecology and evolution of legume–rhizobium symbiosis.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 23
ISSN:0002-9122
1537-2197
DOI:10.1002/ajb2.1435