Clive W. Ronson

TL;DR: The chromosomal symbiotic element of M. loti strain ICMP3153 is transmissible in laboratory matings to at least three genomic species of nonsymbiotic mesorhizobia and is termed a symbiosis island on the basis of its many similarities to pathogenicity islands.

TL;DR: The pattern of protein sequence homology suggests that during prokaryotic evolution, a two-component system has been continually adapted for sensing specific changes in the environment and transducing that information to the transcriptional apparatus.

TL;DR: These regulatory genes comprise two-component regulatory systems that evolved from a common ancestral system that involved transduction of information about the status of the environment by one protein domain to a second one (the N-terminal region conserved among ntrC, ompR, etc.)

TL;DR: It is shown that host-encoded mechanisms control three alternative entry processes operating in the epidermis, the root cortex and at the single cell level, which provides support for the origin of rhizobial infection through direct intercellular epidermal invasion and subsequent evolution of crack entry and root hair invasions observed in most extant legumes.

TL;DR: The results suggest that the diverse strains arose by transfer of chromosomal symbiotic genes from ICMP3153 to nonsymbiotic rhizobia in the environment.