ArticleNature plants2026
A novel cis-element enabled bacterial uptake by plant cells.
Article in Nature plants, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers.
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Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed.
- Nonnodulating Fagales retain the functional NODULE INCEPTION gene.The New phytologist · 2026Article
- A recently evolved Nodulin recruited by NIN for root hair rhizobial infection in Medicago truncatula.The New phytologist · 2026Article
- Review
- Telomere-to-telomere genome of Stylosanthes guianensis uncovers symbiotic adaptation to phosphorus-deficient soils.Genome biology · 2026Article
- Ancestral functionality and symbiotic refinement of NIN in root nodule symbiosis.Nature communications · 2026Article
- The root nodule symbiosis regulator NIN exhibits broad DNA binding specificity conferred by an NLP-inherited motif.Science advances · 2026Article
- Impacts of gene duplication in the evolution of symbiotic root nodule symbiosis in legumes.Frontiers in plant science · 2026Article
- Hormone-modulated transcription factors orchestrating the root nodule symbiosis.Frontiers in plant science · 2026Review
- Article
- Conservation of symbiotic signaling since the most recent common ancestor of land plants.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- Article
- Loss of Lateral suppressor gene is associated with evolution of root nodule symbiosis in Leguminosae.Genome biology · 2024Article
- Unravelling molecular mechanisms involved in resistance priming against downy mildew (Plasmopara viticola) in grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.).Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Comparative phylotranscriptomics reveals ancestral and derived root nodule symbiosis programmes.Nature plants · 2023Article
- NIN-at the heart of NItrogen-fixing Nodule symbiosis.Frontiers in plant science · 2023Review
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Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
Abstract
The root nodule symbiosis of plants with nitrogen-fixing bacteria is phylogenetically restricted to a single clade of flowering plants, which calls for as yet unidentified trait acquisitions and genetic changes in the last common ancestor. Here we discovered-within the promoter of the transcription factor gene Nodule Inception (NIN)-a cis-regulatory element (PACE), exclusively present in members of this clade. PACE was essential for restoring infection threads in nin mutants of the legume Lotus japonicus. PACE sequence variants from root nodule symbiosis-competent species appeared functionally equivalent. Evolutionary loss or mutation of PACE is associated with loss of this symbiosis. During the early stages of nodule development, PACE dictates gene expression in a spatially restricted domain containing cortical cells carrying infection threads. Consistent with its expression domain, PACE-driven NIN expression restored the formation of cortical infection threads, also when engineered into the NIN promoter of tomato. Our data pinpoint PACE as a key evolutionary invention that connected NIN to a pre-existing symbiosis signal transduction cascade that governs the intracellular accommodation of arbuscular mycorrhiza fungi and is conserved throughout land plants. This connection enabled bacterial uptake into plant cells via intracellular support structures such as infection threads, a unique and unifying feature of this symbiosis.
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