Symbiotic nitrogen-fixing bacteria. Mesorhizobium japonicum MAFF 303099

Mesorhizobium loti strain MAFF303099. This strain contains 2 plasmids as well as a symbiotic island that is 610 Kb on the chromosome that is significantly divergent as compared to the symbiotic island of Mesorhizobium loti strain ICMP3153 but does contain root nodule formation and nitrogen-fixation genes. The symbiosis island contains genes similar to those for type III and IV secretion systems. Both plasmids pMLa and pMLb contain genes similar to type IV secretion genes.