title: Exopolysaccharide Production by Sinorhizobium fredii HH103 Is Repressed by Genistein in a NodD1-Dependent Manner.
abstract: In the rhizobia-legume symbiotic interaction, bacterial surface polysaccharides, such as exopolysaccharide (EPS), lipopolysaccharide (LPS), K-antigen polysaccharide (KPS) or cyclic glucans (CG), appear to play crucial roles either acting as signals required for the progression of the interaction and/or preventing host defence mechanisms. The symbiotic significance of each of these polysaccharides varies depending on the specific rhizobia-legume couple. In this work we show that the production of exopolysaccharide by Sinorhizobium fredii HH103, but not by other S. fredii strains such as USDA257 or NGR234, is repressed by nod gene inducing flavonoids such as genistein and that this repression is dependent on the presence of a functional NodD1 protein. In agreement with the importance of EPS for bacterial biofilms, this reduced EPS production upon treatment with flavonoids correlates with decreased biofilm formation ability. By using quantitative RT-PCR analysis we show that expression of the exoY2 and exoK genes is repressed in late stationary cultures of S. fredii HH103 upon treatment with genistein. Results presented in this work show that in S. fredii HH103 EPS production is regulated just in the opposite way than other bacterial signals such as Nod factors and type 3 secreted effectors: it is repressed by flavonoids and NodD1 and enhanced by the nod repressor NolR. These results are in agreement with our previous observations showing that lack of EPS production by S. fredii HH103 is not only non-detrimental but even beneficial for symbiosis with soybean.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Microbiología, Facultad de Biología, Universidad de Sevilla, Sevilla, Spain.
authors.forename: Sebastián
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Acosta-Jurado
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Microbiología, Facultad de Biología, Universidad de Sevilla, Sevilla, Spain.
authors.forename: Pilar
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Navarro-Gómez
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Bioquímica Vegetal y Biología Molecular, Facultad de Biología, Universidad de Sevilla, Sevilla, Spain.
authors.forename: Piedad Del Socorro
authors.initials: Pdel S
authors.lastname: Murdoch
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Microbiología, Facultad de Biología, Universidad de Sevilla, Sevilla, Spain.
authors.forename: Juan-Carlos
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Crespo-Rivas
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Microbiología, Facultad de Biología, Universidad de Sevilla, Sevilla, Spain.
authors.forename: Shi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jie
authors.affiliation: Departamento of Química Orgánica, Facultad de Química, Universidad de Sevilla, Sevilla, Spain.
authors.forename: Lidia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Cuesta-Berrio
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Microbiología, Facultad de Biología, Universidad de Sevilla, Sevilla, Spain.
authors.forename: José-Enrique
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Ruiz-Sainz
authors.affiliation: Departamento of Química Orgánica, Facultad de Química, Universidad de Sevilla, Sevilla, Spain.
authors.forename: Miguel-Ángel
authors.initials: MÁ
authors.lastname: Rodríguez-Carvajal
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Microbiología, Facultad de Biología, Universidad de Sevilla, Sevilla, Spain.
authors.forename: José-María
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7105-5389
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Vinardell
mesh_terms: D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D015536:Down-Regulation / Q000187:drug effects; D005419:Flavonoids / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D015964:Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial / Q000187:drug effects; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D019833:Genistein / Q000494:pharmacology*; D011135:Polysaccharides, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D042181:Sinorhizobium fredii / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D005419:Flavonoids; C060773:NodD protein, Bacteria; D011135:Polysaccharides, Bacterial; D019833:Genistein