Fast- and slow-growing rhizobia: differences in sucrose utilization and invertase activity

Growth on sucrose by 64 strains of Rhizobium was determined, and differences in the use of this disaccharide by rhizobia were established. An inducible invertase was detected in strains of the fast-growing group of Rhizobium but neither invertase nor a sucrose phosphorylase was found in strains of the slow-growing group of Rhizobium.A new evidence to consolidate enzymatically slow-growing rhizobia in a different group from the fast-growing rhizobia is presented here.