Identification of Genes in the RosR Regulon of Rhizobium etli

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Abstract
RosR is a determinant of nodulation competitiveness and cell surface characteristics of Rhizobium etli and has sequence similarity to a family of transcriptional repressors. To understand how RosR affects these phenotypes, we mutagenized a rosR mutant derivative of R. etli strain CE3 with a mini-Tn5 that contains a promoterless gusA gene at one end, which acts as a transcriptional reporter. Using a mass-mating technique, we introduced rosR into each mutant in trans and screened for mutants that expressed different levels of β-glucuronidase activity in the presence and absence ofrosR. A screen of 18,000 mutants identified 52 insertions in genes negatively regulated by RosR and 1 insertion in a gene positively regulated by RosR. Nucleotide sequence analysis of the regions flanking the insertions suggests that RosR regulates genes of diverse function, including those involved in polysaccharide production and in carbohydrate metabolism and those in a region containing sequence similarity to virC1 and virD3 fromAgrobacterium tumefaciens. Two of the mutants produced colonies with altered morphology and were more competitive in nodulation than was CE3ΔrosR, the rosRparent. One mutant that contained an insertion in a gene with similarity to exsH of Sinorhizobium melilotidid not nodulate the plant host Phaseolus vulgaris withoutrosR. These results indicate that RosR directly or indirectly influences expression of diverse genes in R. etli, some of which affect the cell surface and nodulation competitiveness.