Role of lectins and lipopolysaccharides in the recognition process of specific legume-Rhizobium symbiosis.

Abstract

Rhizobium japonicum and R. leguminosarum combined specifically with lectins of host plants, and lipopolysaccharides with the strongest inhibitory activity towards the hemag-glutinating reaction of host plants lectins were extracted and purified from the two Rhizobial species. Moreover, they inhibited the binding reaction between lectins and bacterial cells. These results support the lectin theory that the interaction between lectins of host plants and Rhizobium is the key to the mechanism of the host specificity in Rhizobium-legume symbiosis, and that the lectin-receptor of Rhizobial cells exists in the cell surface lipopolysaccharides.