Project name: Candidatus Paraburkholderia kirkii UZHbot1

Description: Several hundred species of the Rubiaceous genera Pavetta, Neorosea andPsychotria form symbiotic relationships with bacteria resulting in apparent nodules in the leaf lamina. Peculiarly, the bacteria are not acquired by the plants from the environment with each generation but, on the contrary, are transmitted hereditarily to the progeny through propagation of a small colony within the seeds. Moreover, bacterial colonization of seeds often seems to fail when plants are grown under suboptimal conditions and the resulting crippled seedling eventually whither and die within two years. Intriguingly, multiple attempts to cultivate the symbiotic bacteria on various media by several groups including ours have failed so far. These last findings indicate that the symbiosis is obligate, a true oddity in the field of plant/bacteria interactions. We hope that the genome sequence of B. kirkii, the leaf symbiont of Psychotria kirkii, will shed some light on an intriguing closed, obligate symbiosis.

Data type: Genome sequencing and assembly

Sample scope: Monoisolate

Relevance: Evolution

Release date: 2011-10-07

Last updated: 2011-07-12