TY - JOUR TI - A plant chitinase controls cortical infection thread progression and nitrogen-fixing symbiosis AU - Malolepszy, Anna AU - Kelly, Simon AU - Sørensen, Kasper Kildegaard AU - James, Euan Kevin AU - Kalisch, Christina AU - Bozsoki, Zoltan AU - Panting, Michael AU - Andersen, Stig U AU - Sato, Shusei AU - Tao, Ke AU - Jensen, Dorthe Bødker AU - Vinther, Maria AU - Jong, Noor de AU - Madsen, Lene Heegaard AU - Umehara, Yosuke AU - Gysel, Kira AU - Berentsen, Mette U AU - Blaise, Mickael AU - Jensen, Knud Jørgen AU - Thygesen, Mikkel B AU - Sandal, Niels AU - Andersen, Kasper Røjkjær AU - Radutoiu, Simona A2 - Hardtke, Christian S A2 - Stacey, Gary VL - 7 PY - 2018 DA - 2018/10/04 SP - e38874 C1 - eLife 2018;7:e38874 DO - 10.7554/eLife.38874 UR - https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.38874 AB - Morphogens provide positional information and their concentration is key to the organized development of multicellular organisms. Nitrogen-fixing root nodules are unique organs induced by Nod factor-producing bacteria. Localized production of Nod factors establishes a developmental field within the root where plant cells are reprogrammed to form infection threads and primordia. We found that regulation of Nod factor levels by Lotus japonicus is required for the formation of nitrogen-fixing organs, determining the fate of this induced developmental program. Our analysis of plant and bacterial mutants shows that a host chitinase modulates Nod factor levels possibly in a structure-dependent manner. In Lotus, this is required for maintaining Nod factor signalling in parallel with the elongation of infection threads within the nodule cortex, while root hair infection and primordia formation are not influenced. Our study shows that infected nodules require balanced levels of Nod factors for completing their transition to functional, nitrogen-fixing organs. KW - morphogen KW - symbiosis KW - chitinase KW - Nod factor KW - Lotus japonicus KW - nitrogen fixation JF - eLife SN - 2050-084X PB - eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd ER -