Composition of amino acids,organic acids,and sugars in the peribacteroid space of soybean root nodules

In leguminous root nodules, bacteroids are differentiated from rhizobia and are surrounded by a peribacteroid membrane (PBM) forming an intracellular structure designated as symbiosome. Through the peribacteroid space (PBS) between the PBM and bacteroids, metabolic substances and signal compounds are exchanged between two symbionts. In this study, organic compounds with low molecular weight in the PBS were collected from isolated symbiosomes of soybean (Glycine max L.) root nodules, and their composition was analyzed and compared with that of the organic compounds in whole root nodules and bacteroids. Major differences were detected in the molar percentages of amino and organic acids, and sugars, to the total low molecular weight organic compounds among whole root nodules, PBS, and bacteroids. The PBS composition was characterized by abundant sugars and poor amino acids. Also the composition of the amino acids, organic acids, and sugars in the PBS was clearly different from that in whole root nodules and bacteroids. The PBS sugar composition was characterized by the predominance of inositols, especially myo-inositol at the 5th and 7th weeks of the host plant growth stages. Changes in the myo- and D-chiro- inositol balance at the host plant growth stages occurred and a syntony was observed between the PBS and bacteroids. The localization of myo-inositol in the PBS accounted for almost 70% of the total myo-inositol in root nodules. A small difference in the PBS composition between two soybean cultivars was recorded but it varied with the growth stages. It was tentatively concluded that the PBS sugar composition affected the bacteroidal sugar composition in soybean plants, and that inositol utilization in the bacteroids could be a factor controlling the bacteroidal function level which varied with the host plant growth stages.