Molecular characterization of a new Ensifer species recovered from Asian, African and American arid regions. Ensifer

Nitrogen fixing symbiotic rhizobia recovered from deserts in three continents and developping nodules with various leguminous plants have been identified. Sharing highly similar housekkeping genes sequences upon Multi Locus Sequence Analyzes and being only recovered from hot and arid areas to date, this project aims at deciphering the molecular background associated to their particular phylogeographic distribution which suggest particular adaptive capacity to sustain in such harch environment.