Most land plants benefit from endosymbiotic interactions with mycorrhizal fungi, including
legumes and some nonlegumes that also interact with endosymbiotic nitrogen (N)-fixing …

New research results have significantly revised our understanding of the rhizobium–legume
infection process. For example, Nod factors (NFs), previously thought to be absolutely …

The principles underlying the assembly and structure of complex microbial communities are
an issue of long-standing concern to the field of microbial ecology. We previously analyzed …

Integrative and conjugative elements (ICEs) are a diverse group of mobile genetic elements
found in both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. These elements primarily reside in …

Highlights•Nodulation of legumes is encoded by at least three genetic rhizobial
strategies.•The 'nod'strategy has been the most successful evolutionarily.•Evolution of nod …

Rhizobia are phylogenetically disparate α-and β-proteobacteria that have achieved the
environmentally essential function of fixing atmospheric nitrogen (N 2) in symbiosis with …

Legumes are ecologically and economically important plants that contribute to nutrient
cycling and agricultural sustainability, features tied to their intimate symbiosis with nitrogen …

Rhizobia adopt many different lifestyles including survival in soil, growth in the rhizosphere,
attachment to root hairs and infection and growth within legume roots, both in infection …

Abstract Type IV secretion (T4S) systems are ancestrally related to bacterial conjugation
machines. These systems assemble as a translocation channel, and often also as a surface …

To suppress plant immunity and promote the intracellular infection required for fixing
nitrogen for the benefit of their legume hosts, many rhizobia use type III secretion systems …