Variation in symbiont fitness during co-inoculations did not measurably affect plant performance, suggesting that predicted conflict over the joint phenotype of rhizobia fitness has negligible effect on the host.

However, ineffective strains exhibited genotypic variation in their fitness in nodules within individual nodules co-infected with a beneficial strain, suggesting a role for symbiont competitiveness in shaping this joint phenotype.

In mixed infections, ineffective strains always had lower relative fitness in nodules compared to beneficial strains, consistent with efficient punishment of non-fixing rhizobia.

We co-inoculated four A. strigosus plant lines with nine combinations of effective and ineffective Bradyrhizobium strains and measured the relative fitness of ineffective strains within individual nodules, as hosts must select against uncooperative symbionts to maintain benefits.

Bradyrhizobium symbionts form root nodules on compatible hosts, with strains varying from effective, fixing substantial nitrogen for the host, to ineffective strains that do not fix nitrogen and provide no benefit to host growth.

We studied associations between Acmispon strigosus, an annual legume native to California, and its nitrogen-fixing symbionts in the genus Bradyrhizobium.

Really Excited to get this great work out from Camille Wendlandt and others. #editorschoice.@jevbio.bsky.social

LAST CALL FOR THE YOSEMITE SYMBIOSIS WORKSHOP!. APRIL 18-20, YOSEMITE NP. Registration is FREE for graduate students and postdocs THANKS to the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation! JUST A FEW OPEN SPOTS REMAIN Learn more and REGISTER here:

UPDATE: Registration is now FREE for graduate students and postdocs for the 13th Annual Yosemite Symbiosis workshop. THANKS to the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation! Space is limited. Learn more and REGISTER here:

Please RT: Registration is now open for the 13th Annual Yosemite Symbiosis workshop. Space is limited. Learn more and REGISTER here:

RT @reef_research: JOB OPPORTUNITY: Coral Research Engineering / Scientist Assistant (The University of Texas). A….

Please repost! and Save the date for the 13th Annual Yosemite Symbiosis Workshop (April 18-20, 2025). More info at the registration page. REGISTRATION WILL OPEN SOON.

I need to make one of these for being chair of an Academic Department

I'm so excited to announce that my department is now hiring TWO ECOLOGISTS at the Assistant Professor Level. We will be really excited to substantially expand research in ecology in our EEOB Department at UCR. Please RT.

RT @ksamuk: Hi all, my lab at UC Riverside is recruiting PhD students for Fall 2025! These positions will be fully funded and include NIH-f….

RT @ksamuk: My lab at UC Riverside is looking to hire a *lab manager/technician*. We are a evolutionary genetics lab and we are especially….

RT @pacleves: #MBLSYM2024 is a wrap! We had a great course this year! Thank you to @MBLScience @MooreFound and all the awesome students and….

⁦@MBLScience⁩ I’m having an amazing teaching the plant week of the MBL Symbiosis Course. #MBLSYM2024

RT @NatureMicrobiol: From our August focus issue 🌱 Host-imposed control mechanisms in the legume-rhizobia symbiosis ..