ArticlePLoS biology2010
Experimental evolution of a plant pathogen into a legume symbiont.
Article in PLoS biology, 2010. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 74 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
74 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 183 citations in OpenAlex.
- Guidelines for the description of rhizobial symbiovars.International journal of systematic and evolutionary microbiology · 2024Guideline
- Post-Release Changes of the Goat's Rue Rhizobia (International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Article
- Article
- Evolutionary mechanisms underlying bacterial adaptation to the plant environment.FEMS microbiology reviews · 2026Review
- Mechanisms, detection, and impact of horizontal gene transfer in plant functional evolution.The Plant cell · 2025Review
- The pathway to resolve dimeric forms distinguishes plasmids from megaplasmids in Enterobacteriaceae.Nucleic acids research · 2025Article
- Rhizosphere domestication enhances root colonization and plant growth promotion performance ofFrontiers in microbiology · 2025Article
- Atypical rhizobia trigger nodulation and pathogenesis on the same legume hosts.Nature communications · 2024Article
- Fitness trade-offs and the origins of endosymbiosis.PLoS biology · 2024Article
- DNA Segregation in Enterobacteria.EcoSal Plus · 2023Review
- Co-evolution within the plant holobiont drives host performance.EMBO reports · 2023Review
- Comparative phylotranscriptomics reveals ancestral and derived root nodule symbiosis programmes.Nature plants · 2023Article
- A Selective Bottleneck During Host Entry Drives the Evolution of New Legume Symbionts.Molecular biology and evolution · 2023Article
- Legumes Regulate Symbiosis with Rhizobia via Their Innate Immune System.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Review
- Review
- Temperature increase modifies susceptibility to Verticillium wilt inFrontiers in plant science · 2023Article
- Population genomics of Australian indigenousMicrobial genomics · 2023Article
- Article
- Honey bee symbiont buffers larvae against nutritional stress and supplements lysine.The ISME journal · 2022Article
- Why are rhizobial symbiosis genes mobile?Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2022Article
14 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
13 authors at 5 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Rhizobia are phylogenetically disparate alpha- and beta-proteobacteria that have achieved the environmentally essential function of fixing atmospheric nitrogen in symbiosis with legumes. Ample evidence indicates that horizontal transfer of symbiotic plasmids/islands has played a crucial role in rhizobia evolution. However, adaptive mechanisms that allow the recipient genomes to express symbiotic traits are unknown. Here, we report on the experimental evolution of a pathogenic Ralstonia solanacearum chimera carrying the symbiotic plasmid of the rhizobium Cupriavidus taiwanensis into Mimosa nodulating and infecting symbionts. Two types of adaptive mutations in the hrpG-controlled virulence pathway of R. solanacearum were identified that are crucial for the transition from pathogenicity towards mutualism. Inactivation of the hrcV structural gene of the type III secretion system allowed nodulation and early infection to take place, whereas inactivation of the master virulence regulator hrpG allowed intracellular infection of nodule cells. Our findings predict that natural selection of adaptive changes in the legume environment following horizontal transfer has been a major driving force in rhizobia evolution and diversification and show the potential of experimental evolution to decipher the mechanisms leading to symbiosis.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.