Genomic heterogeneity within bean nodulating Rhizobium strains isolated from cerrado soils

Isolates of Rhizobium nodulating Phaseolus vulgaris L. sampled from cerrado soils of different regions, were characterized by PCR amplification of genomic DNA using different primers. These data were used to determine the pairwise genetic distances among R. tropici and R. leguminosarum bv. phaseoli strains. The amounts of genetic variation within R. tropici were from 0 to 48% and within R. leguminosarum bv. phaseoli from 5 to 39% indicating a high degree of genetic diversity in this indigenous population.