The bio operon on the acquired symbiosis island of Mesorhizobium sp. strain R7A includes a novel gene involved in pimeloyl-coA synthesis

The Mesorhizobium sp. strain R7A bio operon on its acquired symbiosis island of has been found to include a novel gene that is part of the pimeloyl-coA synthesis. The reason the vitamin biosynthetic loci are on an acquired genetic element not in nonsymbiotic mesorhizobia is not yet known. The symbiosis island is a 500-kb chromosomal genetic elements that when transferred converts nonsymbiotic mesorhizobia to symbionts that can nodulate and fix nitrogen with Lotus corniculatus. A 13.2-kb region of the island that changed the nonsymbionts to nicotinate and biotin prototrophy has been characterized.