Therefore, although there are no experimental data on its biochemical function, in E. meliloti and R. leguminosarum it has BVD-523 been hypothesized that this protein may be involved in the synthesis and/or excretion of Nod factors [42]. In the pathogens analyzed in this study, NodN could have an auxiliary function during infection, modulating the induction of cell proliferation, since Bradyrhizobium, Ensifer, Rhizobium,

Brucella, and Bartonella have similar strategies of infection, although the mechanisms are different [43]. The NodD reconstruction showed highly divergent; therefore, it was not possible to evidence the separation between photosynthetic, methylotrophic, and bioremediation bacteria from the group including symbiotic and pathogenic

bacteria. The divergence observed might be related to NodD function in host-bacteria symbiosis. The host-bacteria specificity is established due to NodD-dependent upregulation of nod genes in response to flavonoids in the host plant’s root exudates. NodD directly interacts with flavonoids to activate nod gene transcription, PD-0332991 in vivo altering the response of the host cell according to the flavonoids secreted [44, 45]. Although NodD is involved in activation of other nodulation genes, this protein belongs to the LysR-type transcriptional regulator family, which regulates a variety of genes, including those involved in virulence, quorum sensing, and motility [46]. Besides this, Afatinib nmr some species have more than one copy of the nodD gene. However, the phylogenetic analysis was performed using the peptide sequence codified by the nodD that precedes the operon nodABC. Since NodD can recognize different inducers, and the processes of infection and nodule formation require other determinants than these specific proteins, including other important proteins for the bacterium-host recognition [47], we may suppose that, in R. vitis, the nodD ortholog gene might be involved in the regulation of genes related to infection. VirB8, VirB9, and VirB10 are transmembrane proteins that compose the type IV secretion system (T4SS), a

structure consisting of several subunits that mediates the translocation of macromolecules by the cell envelope of Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, used by many pathogens for the secretion of virulence determinants in the process of colonization of host tissues [48]. A type IV secretion system equivalent to that of plant pathogens has been described in the animal pathogens Bartonella and Brucella. In species of these genera, it has been demonstrated that VirB proteins are required in stages of the infection as colonization and inhibition of apoptosis and are essential for the virulence of some pathogens [49–51]. In the symbionts E. meliloti and M. loti, T4SS is not involved in the invasion and www.selleckchem.com/products/apr-246-prima-1met.html persistence of these microorganisms in their hosts [52]. In E.