Detection of Genetic Determinants of Nodulating Ability in Bradyrhizobium japonicum Strains

Authors: Mustafa AKÇELİK, Kemal KARUÇ, Kamuran AYHAN, Velittin GÜRGÜN

Abstract: In this study, the relationship between plasmids and nodulating genes in Bradyrhizobium japonicum strains were searched and it was determined that this character was encoded by chromosomal DNA in these strains. The 72.6 Kb plasmid was found to have had conjugative mobilization ability but had not stability in transconjugants, determined by interspecific conjugation experiments which proposed after construction of antibiotic resistance markers. In transformation trials which universal vector systems were used the nod genes were not expressed in the host strains in spite of successfull transfer of these genes.

Keywords: Bradyrhizobiumjaponicum, nodulation, plasmid, conjugation, transformation