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Development and Differentiation of the Root Nodule

Involvement of Plant and Bacterial Genes

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Part of the book series: Developmental Biology ((DEBO,volume 5))

Abstract

The Rhizobium-legume symbiosis is an example of an interaction between a prokaryote (Rhizobium) and an eukaryote (legume) that brings about the development of an entirely new organ on the plant, the root nodule. The initial signals for induction of this organ must come from the bacteria, as these organs do not develop in the absence of an appropriate Rhizobium strain. The cytology of early infection events leading to nodule formation in a number of legumes is well known (Callaham and Torrey, 1981; Bhuvaneswari et al., 1980, 1981; Turgeon and Bauer, 1982), and the ontogeny of nodule development has been described (Dart, 1974, 1977; Bauer, 1981). This chapter describes the salient features of this process as they pertain to the development and differentiation of this structure leading to symbiotic nitrogen fixation.

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Morrison, N.A., Verma, D.P.S., Bisseling, T. (1988). Development and Differentiation of the Root Nodule. In: Browder, L.W. (eds) The Molecular Biology of Cell Determination and Cell Differentiation. Developmental Biology, vol 5. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-6817-9_15

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