Functional Evolutionary genomics: Inferring the origin and function of the genes involved in nodulation symbiosis with nitrogen fixation

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There is a possibility that the symbiosis genes with an important role for the nodulation and nitrogen fixation passed through the special evolution that may be different from the other housekeeping genes. We compared the genomic information of various bacteria using the background information of symbiosis with legumes and inferred the new symbiotic nodulation genes and the evolution of this symbiosis. We examined large scale phylogenetic profiling and revealed the evolutionary origin of nodulation genes. Contrary to the widely accepted scenario of the alpha-proteobacterial origin of rhizobia, our exhaustive analysis showed that the nodulation symbiosis of rhizobia with legumes may have originated from beta-proteobacterial family. Furthermore, we found that there was a possibility that several genes which symbiosis function was not known so far are characteristic of root nodule bacteria. We confirm the symbiosis function of these genes by the gene destruction.