A Proteomic View on the Role of Legume Symbiotic Interactions

Abstract

Legume plants are key elements in sustainable agriculture and represent a significant source of plant-based protein for humans and animal feed worldwide. One specific feature of the family is the ability to establish nitrogen-fixing symbiosis with Rhizobium bacteria. Additionally, like most vascular flowering plants, legumes are able to form a mutualistic endosymbiosis with arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi. These beneficial associations can enhance the plant resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses. Understanding how symbiotic interactions influence and increase plant stress tolerance are relevant questions toward maintaining crop yield and food safety in the scope of climate change. Proteomics offers numerous tools for the identification of proteins involved in such responses, allowing the study of sub-cellular localization and turnover regulation, as well as the discovery of post-translational modifications (PTMs). The current work reviews the progress made during the last decades in the field of proteomics applied to the study of the legume-Rhizobium and -AM symbioses, and highlights their influence on the plant responses to pathogens and abiotic stresses. We further discuss future perspectives and new experimental approaches that are likely to have a significant impact on the field including peptidomics, mass spectrometric imaging, and quantitative proteomics.

The Root Nodule Microbiome of Cultivated and Wild Halophytic Legumes Showed Similar Diversity but Distinct Community Structure in Yellow River Delta Saline Soils

“…Rhizobia, which are associated with nodule formation in legume plants, supply nitrogen to the host plants, and can also exist in non-legume plants as beneficial endophytes [6,7]. These rhizobia play important roles in low-input agriculture, land reclamation, and saline soil restoration [8][9][10].…”

Didymella pinodes Affects N and P Uptakes and Their Efficiencies in a Tripartite Mutualism of Pea

“…In the tripartite mycorrhiza-legume-Rhizobium symbiotic associations in particular, the acquisitions and allocations of N and P are indeed dependent on a complex set of exchanges between rhizobia, mycorrhizal fungi and their root association [32]. Several studies have demonstrated that their inoculation improves growth and productivity of legume plants under a variety of stress conditions [33,34].…”

Multidisciplinary approaches for studying rhizobium–legume symbioses

“…These studies have revealed how the proteome changes during symbiotic development, and they complement and extend conclusions generated using transcriptomics. A more detailed review on the use of proteomics to characterize the symbiosis was recently published (Larrainzar and Wienkoop 2017).…”