Coordination of symbiosis and cell cycle functions in Sinorhizobium meliloti

The symbiotic nitrogen fixing species Sinorhizobium meliloti represents a remarkable model system for the class Alphaproteobacteria, which includes genera such as Caulobacter, Agrobacterium and Brucella. It is capable of living free in the soil, and is also able to establish a complex symbiosis with leguminous plants, during which its cell cycle program is completely rewired presumably due, at least in part, to the action of peptides secreted by the plant. Here we will discuss how the cell cycle regulation works in S. meliloti and the kinds of molecular mechanisms that take place during the infection. We will focus on the complex regulation of the master regulator of the S. meliloti cell cycle, the response regulator CtrA, discussing its implication in symbiosis.