Involvement of auxin and LTP proteins in the regulation of root nodule formation in Medicago truncatula - Sinorhizobium meliloti Symbiosis

The present thesis has had two main focuses: i) the evaluation of the role of bacteria-derived auxin in the symbiosis between rhizobia and legumes that bear indeterminate nodules, ii) the functional study of MtN5, a pathogenesis related protein which presents sequence homology with the members of the plant Lipid Transfer Proteins (LTP) family and is precociously induced during nodulation. Auxin (indol-3-acetic acid, IAA) is a phytohormone involved in many aspects of plants growth and development; The role of auxin in the development of the rhizobia-legumes symbiosis was first hypothesised at the beginning of the twentieth century. More recent studies have demonstrated that auxin is accumulated at the site of infection as a consequence of the inhibition of the acropetal auxin transport in roots upon rhizobia inoculation. The production of IAA has also been documented in plant-associated rhizobacteria, including rhizobia, that have promoting effects on plants growth. When grown in liquid media, rhizobia can synthesize auxin and most likely they retain the same capability also during the nodule development. However, up to date, the data concerning the role of bacteria-derived auxin in the establishment of the symbiotic association are still contradictory, since both stimulatory and inhibitory effects have been documented. Thus, there are still open questions in the understanding of the events that result in the establishment of the symbiosis. First of all the nature and the function of the hormonal signal(s) exchanged between the host and the symbiont are not thoroughly unfolded, as well as the parallelisms and the differences in the responses of legumes against root pathogens and root symbiont. In these regards, recent findings have pointed out that plants innate immunity results, at least in part, from the down-regulation of the auxin signalling pathway. Medicago truncatula and Medicago sativa plants were nodulated with both wild-type and auxin hyper-synthesising rhizobia (Sinorhizobium meliloti IAA). The results obtained showed that plants nodulated with S. meliloti IAA produced a higher number of root nodules (50% more nodules in M. sativa and 100% more nodules in M. truncatula) and a more branched root apparatus. The root nodules elicited by S. meliloti IAA had a higher IAA content (at least 10-fold) when compared to control nodules. The expression levels of the auxin carriers were evaluated and the efflux facilitator MtPIN2 resulted more abundant (about 2-fold) in the root tissue of IAA plants when compared to wild-type plants These data suggested that such promoting effects on nodulation and lateral root growth might be due to the increased auxin content detected in IAA nodule produced by auxin hyper-synthesising rhizobia, as well as to a redistribution of the phytohormone in the root tissue. It has been largely demonstrated that nitric oxide (NO) acts as second messenger in the auxin-induced pathway that leads to formation of lateral and adventitious roots. Since root nodules have the same organogenetic origin of lateral and adventitious roots, the possible connection between NO and root nodule induction was investigated and we demonstrated that NO participate in the signalling pathway for root nodule induction. During a preliminary screening carried out by means of qRT-PCR, it has been found that N5 gene of M. truncatula was more abundantly expressed in roots nodulated with S. meliloti IAA with respect to roots infected by wild-type rhizobia. The gene product of MtN5 was annotated as putative Lipid Transfer Protein (LTP). LTPs are characterized by their ability to bind lipids in vitro and the majority of them exhibits antimicrobial activity. In this thesis, it has been demonstrated that the recombinant MtN5 protein is able to bind lysolipids and possesses inhibitory activity against Fusarium semitectum, Xanthomonas campestris and S. meliloti. The studies of the expression pattern of both MtN5 transcript and MtN5 protein confirmed that it is precociously induced during nodulation and revealed that it is specifically localized in the root nodule. In addition, when M. truncatula plants are infected with the root pathogenic fungus F. semitectum, MtN5 protein is accumulated in the root apparatus. The function of MtN5 in nodulation has been studied through the generation of transgenic adventitious roots, both over-expressed and silenced for the gene of interest. MtN5-silenced roots developed approximately 50% fewer nodules as compared to control roots, whereas in hairy roots over-expressing MtN5 the nodule number was increased by about 300% with respect to control roots. Collectively the data indicate that MtN5 facilitates the symbiotic interaction between M. truncatula and S. meliloti, probably acting in the early stages of rhizobia infection, and suggest that it might have a role in the protection of nodules against root pathogen. However, further studies are needed to have a clear picture of the role played by MtN5 in both symbiosis and defence response against pathogens.