Symbiotic Nitrogen

Fixation

---By-
Khushboo Patel
Student of M.SC. in
Botany.
 INDEX
 What is nitrogen fixation and
biological nitrogen fixation?
 Definition
 Its importance
 What is symbiotic nitrogen
fixation ?
 Formation of root nodules in
symbiotic plants
 Steps
 Nitrogenase activity
 Leghaemoglobin activity
 Factors controlling biological
nitrogen fixation
 NITROGEN FIXATION

Conversion of molecular nitrogen

of the atmosphere into inorganic
nitrogenous compounds such as
NO3 and NH3 is called nitrogen
fixation.
When this fixation occurs
through the agency of some
living organisms the process is
called biological nitrogen
fixation.
Plants do not use N2 directly from
the air because N2itself is
unreactive, and cannot be usedby
green plants to make protein.
 NITROGEN FIXATION

Atmospheric N2

Biological N2 Industrial N2 Electrical N2 Denitrification

Fixation fixation fixation

Nitrosomanas Nitrobacteria

NH3 NO2- NO3-

(ammonia oxidizing (nitrite oxidizing
bacteria) bacteria)

SOIL N POOL

(Ammonification) (Uptake)

Decaying biomass Plant biomass

Animal biomass
 Formation of root nodule in leguminous
plants

Steps:-
1. The rhizobia occurs as the free living organism in the soil
before infecting their respective host plants to form root
nodules. Under conditions of limited N2 supply in the soil , there
is exchange of signals between the two to form a symbiotic
relationship.
2. Roots secrete chemicals such as flavonoids and betaines.
Rhizobia migrate and accumulate in the soil near the roots in
response to the secretion.
3. The initial attraction of rhizobia to host roots appears to involve
positive chemotaxis , or movement toward a chemical
stimulant.
4. Once rhizobia have colonized the rhizosphere , they begin to
synthesize morphogenic signal molecules called nodulation
factors , or nod factors.
5. Nod factors are derivatives of chitin , a B- (1-4)- limked polymer
of N-acetyl-D-glucosamine found in the cell walls of fungi and
exoskeletons of insects.
6. Root hairs of legume produce
Specific sugar binding proteins (lectines)
Lectins are activated by Nod factors
This facilitates the attachment of rhizobia to the root hairs
whose tips in turn become curved.
 7.Lectins are small , nonenzymatic proteins synthesized by the
host and have the particular ability to recognize and bind to specific
complex carbohydrates.

8.Increased root hair production , development of shorter ,

thicker roots , the root hairs develop branching and curl at the trip.
Rhizobia also release mitogenic signals that stimulate localized cell
divisions in the root cortex. These cell divisions form the primary
nodule meristem , defining the region in which the nodule will
eventually develop.

9.Rhizobia now secrete enzymes which degrade the cell walls

of root hairs at the point of their attachment for entry into the root
hair.

10.Rhizobia enters into the cells of inner layers of cortex

through infection threads, (tubular extensions of the infolded plasma
membrane produced by fusion of Golgi-derived membrane vesicles).