title: Isolation of Elaeagnus-compatible Frankia from soils collected in Tunisia.
abstract: The occurrence and diversity of Frankia nodulating Elaeagnus angustifolia in Tunisia were evaluated in 30 soils from different regions by a Frankia-capturing assay. Despite the absence of actinorhizal plants in 24 of the 30 soils, nodules were captured from all the samples. Eight pure strains were isolated from single colonies grown in agar medium. On the basis of 16S rRNA and GlnII sequences, seven strains were clustered with Frankia, colonizing Elaeagnaceae and Rhamnaceae in two different phylogenetic groups while one strain described a new lineage in the Frankia assemblage, indicating that Frankia strains genetically diverse from previously known Elaeagnus-infective strains are present in tunisian soils. Genomic fingerprinting determined by rep-PCR, and tDNA-PCR-SSCP, confirmed the wide genetic diversity of the strains.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Alimentari e Microbiologiche, Università degli Studi, via Celoria 2, 20133 Milano, Italy.
authors.forename: Maher
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gtari
authors.forename: Lorenzo
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Brusetti
authors.forename: Gharbi
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Skander
authors.forename: Diego
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Mora
authors.forename: Abdellatif
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Boudabous
authors.forename: Daniele
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Daffonchio
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D031263:Elaeagnaceae / Q000382:microbiology / Q000502:physiology*; D040161:Frankia / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D005843:Geography; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics; D012988:Soil Microbiology; D014416:Tunisia
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S