Involvement of Rhizobium japonicum O antigen in soybean nodulation

Non-nodulating mutant strains of Rhizobium japonicum lacked a surface antigen that was present on the wild type. This surface antigen is associated with the O antigen portion of the lipopolysaccharide. Paper chromatography of hydrolyzed lipopolysaccharide and O antigen revealed three major component differences between the non-nodulating strains and the wild type.