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Science 25 September 1981:
Vol. 213. no. 4515, pp. 1513 - 1515
DOI: 10.1126/science.213.4515.1513
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Articles

Agglutinin from Alfalfa Necessary for Binding and Nodulation by Rhizobium meliloti

ALAN S. PAAU 1, WALTER T. LEPS 1, and WINSTON J. BRILL 1

1 Department of Biology and Center for Studies of Nitrogen Fixation, University of Wisconsin, Madison 53706

A protein that specifically agglutinates Rhizobium meliloti, the alfalfa root nodule endosymbiont, has been purified from alfalfa seed. Material cross-reactive to antiserum prepared against the purified agglutinin is present in all alfalfa varieties that were tested but is absent in corn and other legumes not nodulated by Rhizobium meliloti. Studies with nonnodulating mutants of this microorganism incapable of binding to alfalfa roots suggest that the agglutinin is responsible for specific recognition between Rhizobium meliloti and alfalfa and that this recognition is an essential step in nodule formation.

Submitted on January 8, 1981
Revised on March 18, 1981

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)