Polyamine biosynthesis and biological roles in rhizobia

Polyamines are ubiquitous molecules containing two or more amino groups that fulfill varied and often essential physiological and regulatory roles in all organisms. In the symbiotic nitrogen-fixing bacteria known as rhizobia, putrescine and homospermidine are invariably produced while spermidine and norspermidine synthesis appears to be restricted to the alfalfa microsymbiont Sinorhizobium meliloti. Studies with rhizobial mutants deficient in the synthesis of one or more polyamines have shown that these compounds are important for growth, stress resistance, motility, exopolysaccharide production and biofilm formation. In this review, we describe these studies and examine how polyamines are synthesized and regulated in rhizobia.