Endophytic prokaryotes can invade the tissue of the host plant without triggering defense reactions or disease symptoms. Instead, they promote the growth of the host plant due to their ability to fix atmospheric dinitrogen and/or to produce plant growth-promoting substances.

This Microbiology Monographs volume presents up-to-date findings on the interactions between plants and beneficial prokaryotes, including the use of genomics for the analysis of plant-prokaryote symbioses and their evolution. Rhizobia-legume, actinorhizal and cyanobacterial symbioses are presented.

This book is the self-contained sixth volume of a comprehensive series on nitrogen fixation. It presents the state-of-the-art in regards to actinorhizal symbioses. Like legumes, actinorhizal plants form root nodules that host nitrogen-fixing soil bacteria. However, because the macrosymbionts are, with one exception, woody plants rather than crop plants, actinorhizal symbioses are less well-known than legume symbioses to which they are phylogenetically related. Actinorhizal plants come from eight different families. They can grow on marginal soils by virtue of these symbioses and are used extensively in reforestation, soil reclamation, and desert agroforestry. The diversity of the involved host plants poses a variety of challenges to the actinorhizal symbiosis and results in interesting strategies, for example, to cope with the O2 dilemma or nutrient exchange between plant and bacterium. The actinorhizal micro-symbionts are Gram-positive actinomycetes of the genus Frankia...

Endophytic prokaryotes can invade the tissue of the host plant without triggering defense reactions or disease symptoms. Instead, they promote the growth of the host plant due to their ability to fix atmospheric dinitrogen and/or to produce plant growth-promoting substances.

This Microbiology Monographs volume presents up-to-date findings on the interactions between plants and beneficial prokaryotes, including the use of genomics for the analysis of plant-prokaryote symbioses and their evolution. Rhizobia-legume, actinorhizal and cyanobacterial symbioses are presented.

For researchers and graduates with any interest in plant or soil sciences, this fascinating study will be a godsend it s the complete state of the art with regard to actinorhizal symbioses. The self-contained sixth volume of a comprehensive series on nitrogen fixation, it includes chapters that deal with all aspects of this symbiosis between actinorhizal plants and nitrogen-fixing bacteria. It also contains information both about symbionts and their ecological role and use. Other chapters tackle the global distribution of different actinorhizal plants and their microsymbionts and how this impacts the question of co-evolution of the micro- and macrosymbionts as well as comparing the actinorhizal and leguminous symbioses. No other book provides the up-to-date and in-depth coverage of this volume."