Indirect evidence for cellulase production by Rhizobium in pea root nodules during bacteroid differentiation: cytochemical aspects of cellulose breakdown in rhizobial droplets

Abstract

Cytochemical localization of cellulosic β-(1–4) glucans in pea (Pisum sativum L.) nodules at different stages of infection by an effective isolate of Rhizobium leguminosarum biovar viceae was studied using a gold-complexed exoglucanase. Cellulose subunits were present in great amounts in root cell walls, as shown by intense and regular labeling by gold particles. Labeling was unevenly distributed over the thin walls of emerging infection threads. In more developed infection threads, labeling was more intense and evenly distributed than in emerging threads, although slightly altered, unlabeled wall areas were frequently observed at the growing tips. Droplets containing rhizobia, which originated from infection threads, were surrounded by labeled wall-like material. Rhizobial droplets were either single- or multi-celled, and were sometimes separated by inner, unevenly labeled compartments. The surrounding wall-like material was irregularly labeled, and unlabeled wall areas, neighbouring intensely labeled ones, were observed frequently. There was an absence of labeling ahead of the rhizobia that escaped from the droplets, but degenerating wall-like material was present around the escaping rhizobia, mainly on their sides. At more advanced stages of development, labeling was present only over the outermost wall layers of rhizobial droplets, indicating that inner portions were degraded first. These observations suggest that a hydrolytic enzyme is involved in the sequence of events from infection thread formation through rhizobial release in the host cell cytoplasm, and that the hydrolytic enzyme is of rhizobial origin.Key words: Rhizobium–Pisum symbiosis, root nodules, rhizobial droplets, cellulose, colloidal gold.