The Significance of Flavonoids in the Process of Biological Nitrogen Fixation

• Main Authors: Wei Dong, Yuguang Song
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2020-08-01
• Series: International Journal of Molecular Sciences
• Subjects: flavonoids; biological nitrogen fixation; endosymbiosis; nodulation; actinorhiza; arbuscular mycorrhiza
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/21/16/5926

Nitrogen is essential for the growth of plants. The ability of some plant species to obtain all or part of their requirement for nitrogen by interacting with microbial symbionts has conferred a major competitive advantage over those plants unable to do so. The function of certain flavonoids (a group of secondary metabolites produced by the plant phenylpropanoid pathway) within the process of biological nitrogen fixation carried out by <i>Rhizobium</i> spp. has been thoroughly researched. However, their significance to biological nitrogen fixation carried out during the actinorhizal and arbuscular mycorrhiza–Rhizobium–legume interaction remains unclear. This review catalogs and contextualizes the role of flavonoids in the three major types of root endosymbiosis responsible for biological nitrogen fixation. The importance of gaining an understanding of the molecular basis of endosymbiosis signaling, as well as the potential of and challenges facing modifying flavonoids either quantitatively and/or qualitatively are discussed, along with proposed strategies for both optimizing the process of nodulation and widening the plant species base, which can support nodulation.