This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Vial, L.
Right arrow Articles by Wisniewski-Dyé, F.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Vial, L.
Right arrow Articles by Wisniewski-Dyé, F.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Journal of Bacteriology, August 2006, p. 5364-5373, Vol. 188, No. 15
0021-9193/06/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JB.00521-06
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Phase Variation and Genomic Architecture Changes in Azospirillum

Ludovic Vial, Céline Lavire, Patrick Mavingui, Didier Blaha,{dagger} Jacqueline Haurat, Yvan Moënne-Loccoz, René Bally, and Florence Wisniewski-Dyé*

UMR CNRS 5557 Ecologie Microbienne, IFR 41 Bio-Environnement et Santé, Université Lyon 1, 43 Boulevard du 11 Novembre 1918, 69622 Villeurbanne Cedex, France

Received 12 April 2006/ Accepted 25 May 2006

The plant growth-promoting rhizobacterium Azospirillum lipoferum 4B generates in vitro at high frequency a stable nonswimming phase variant designated 4VI, which is distinguishable from the wild type by the differential absorption of dyes. The frequency of variants generated by a recA mutant of A. lipoferum 4B was increased up to 10-fold. The pleiotropic modifications characteristic of the phase variant are well documented, but the molecular processes involved are unknown. Here, the objective was to assess whether genomic rearrangements take place during phase variation of strain 4B. The random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) profiles of strains 4B and 4VI differed. RAPD fragments observed only with the wild type were cloned, and three cosmids carrying the corresponding fragments were isolated. The three cosmids hybridized with a 750-kb plasmid and pulse-field gel electrophoresis analysis revealed that this replicon was missing in the 4VI genome. The same rearrangements took place during phase variation of 4BrecA. Large-scale genomic rearrangements during phase variation were demonstrated for two additional strains. In Azospirillum brasilense WN1, generation of stable variants was correlated with the disappearance of a replicon of 260 kb. For Azospirillum irakense KBC1, the variant was not stable and coincided with the formation of a new replicon, whereas the revertant recovered the parental genomic architecture. This study shows large-scale genomic rearrangements in Azospirillum strains and correlates them with phase variation.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: UMR CNRS 5557 Ecologie Microbienne, 43 Boulevard du 11 Novembre 1918, 69622 Villeurbanne Cedex, France. Phone: 33 4 72 44 58 89. Fax: 33 4 72 43 12 23. E-mail: wisniews{at}biomserv.univ-lyon1.fr.

{dagger} Present address: UMR CNRS INSA 5122 Microbiologie et Génétique, IFR 41 Bio-Environnement et Santé, Université Lyon 1, 43 Boulevard du 11 Novembre 1918, 69622 Villeurbanne Cedex, France.

Journal of Bacteriology, August 2006, p. 5364-5373, Vol. 188, No. 15
0021-9193/06/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JB.00521-06
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Boyer, M., Haurat, J., Samain, S., Segurens, B., Gavory, F., Gonzalez, V., Mavingui, P., Rohr, R., Bally, R., Wisniewski-Dye, F. (2008). Bacteriophage Prevalence in the Genus Azospirillum and Analysis of the First Genome Sequence of an Azospirillum brasilense Integrative Phage. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 74: 861-874 [Abstract] [Full Text]  


Copyright © 2009 by the American Society for Microbiology.   For an alternate route to Journals.ASM.org, visit: http://intl-journals.asm.org | More Info»