Analysis of rhizobial strains nodulating Phaseolus vulgaris from Hispaniola Island, a geographic bridge between Meso and South America and the first historical link with Europe.
Hispaniola Island was the first stopover in the travels of Columbus between America and Spain, and played a crucial role in the exchange of Phaseolus vulgaris seeds and their endosymbionts. The analysis of recA and atpD genes from strains nodulating this legume in coastal and inner regions of Hispaniola Island showed that they were almost identical to those of the American strains CIAT 652, Ch24-10 and CNPAF512, which were initially named as Rhizobium etli and have been recently reclassified into Rhizobium phaseoli after the analysis of their genomes. Therefore, the species R. phaseoli is more abundant in America than previously thought, and since the proposal of the American origin of R. etli was based on the analysis of several strains that are currently known to be R. phaseoli, it can be concluded that both species have an American origin coevolving with their host in its distribution centres. The analysis of the symbiovar phaseoli nodC gene alleles carried by different species isolated in American and European countries suggested a Mesoamerican origin of the α allele and an Andean origin of the γ allele, which is supported by the dominance of this latter allele in Europe where mostly Andean cultivars of common beans have been traditionally cultivated.
Facultad de Ciencias Agronómicas y Veterinarias, Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
César-Antonio
CA
Díaz-Alcántara
Instituto de Recursos Naturales y Agrobiología, IRNASA (CSIC), Salamanca, Spain; Unidad Asociada Grupo de Interacción Planta-Microorganismo, Universidad de Salamanca-IRNASA (CSIC), Spain.
Martha-Helena
MH
Ramírez-Bahena
Instituto de Medio Ambiente, Recursos Naturales y Biodiversidad, Universidad de León, Spain.
Daniel
D
Mulas
Departamento de Microbiología y Genética, Universidad de Salamanca, Spain.
Paula
P
García-Fraile
Instituto de Recursos Naturales y Agrobiología, IRNASA (CSIC), Salamanca, Spain.
Alicia
A
Gómez-Moriano
Instituto de Recursos Naturales y Agrobiología, IRNASA (CSIC), Salamanca, Spain; Unidad Asociada Grupo de Interacción Planta-Microorganismo, Universidad de Salamanca-IRNASA (CSIC), Spain.
Alvaro
A
Peix
Departamento de Microbiología y Genética, Universidad de Salamanca, Spain. Electronic address: evp@usal.es.
Encarna
E
Velázquez
Instituto de Medio Ambiente, Recursos Naturales y Biodiversidad, Universidad de León, Spain.
Fernando
F
González-Andrés
D058448:Biota; D002489:Central America; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D027805:Phaseolus / Q000382:microbiology*; D058974:Phylogeography; D012231:Rhizobium / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics; D042161:Rhizobium phaseoli / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D053204:Root Nodules, Plant / Q000382:microbiology*; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D013020:South America
Biogeography; Phaseolus vulgaris; Phylogeny; Rhizobium; Taxonomy