: A Key Player in Regulating the - Symbiotic Interaction.

Cysteine-rich receptor-like kinases (CRKs) are a type of receptor-like kinases (RLKs) that are important for pathogen resistance, extracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) signaling, and programmed cell death in plants. In a previous study, we identified 46 CRK family members in the genome and found that was highly upregulated under root nodule symbiotic conditions. To better understand the role of in the - symbiotic interaction, we functionally characterized this gene by overexpressing (-OE) and silencing (-RNAi) it in a hairy root system.

Metabolic Footprints of Sensu Lato Rhizosphere Bacteria Active against Maize Pathogens.

Consistent with their reported abundance in soils, several sensu lato strains were isolated from the rhizosphere of maize plants cultivated at different sites in central México. Comparative analysis of their 16S rRNA gene sequences permitted their separation into three distinctive clades, which were further subdivided into six other clusters by their close resemblance to (1) ; (2) , , and ; (3) ; (4) ; (5) , or (6) representative species. Direct confrontation assays revealed that these strains inhibited the growth of pathogenic f.

Wide distribution of the -bacterium endosymbiosis in naturally infected maize plants.

We have previously described that laboratory strains of , a fungal pathogen of maize and its ancestor teosinte, harbor an intracellular bacterium that enables the fungus to fix nitrogen. However, it is not clear whether other strains isolated from nature also harbor endosymbiotic bacteria, and whether these fix nitrogen for its host. In the present study, we isolated strains from naturally infected maize.