This diverse group of bacterium can use a wide range of compounds that plants give off when their roots leak or die. The thin layer of soil next to the roots of plants is called the rhizosphere . The rhizosphere contains many more microbes than in the surrounding soil. Inside these particles are millions of rhizosphere microbes. Amino Acid - a molecule which is the building block of protein.
Amino acids contain nitrogen as well as carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, the basic atoms of life.
All organisms contain at least 20 different types of amino acids. Some bacteria are able to make all amino acids, unlike humans which cannot make about 8 amino acids for which they must rely on other organisms, like microbes and plants, to make for them. Legume - a flowering plant which bears its seeds in pods. All legumes looked at so far have a symbiotic association with root-colonizing bacteria called rhizobia. Legumes includes plants such as clover, peas, beans.