The functional and molecular evolution of genes involved in plant-bacterial symbioses

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We will investigate the molecular evolution of the genes involved in the interaction between Lotus and its rhizobial symbiont. We will characterize the levels of nucleotide variation at two loci critical in the recognition of the bacterial symbiont, namely NFR1 and NFR5. In combination with evolutionary genetic analyses, infection assays will be conducted to determine the recognition phenotype between hosts and symbionts. Allelic variants from the wild and/or modified by site-direct mutagenesis will be transformed into the appropriate mutant lines to pinpoint the specific amino acid residues associated with inter-species recognition.