Legume (source code)
= Legume
= Fabaceae
{c}
{synonym}
A <legume> is a <flowering plant> belonging to the bean-and-pea family, <Fabaceae>. The word is also used for the characteristic pod-like <fruit>, but the plant-family meaning is intended here. Many legumes form <root nodules> containing <rhizobia>, which supply fixed nitrogen in exchange for plant-derived resources. The <bacteria> perform <nitrogen fixation>; the plant provides a regulated symbiotic setting.
A soybean experiment prevented normally cooperative <rhizobia> from fixing nitrogen and measured their subsequent reproductive success. The <bacteria> reproduced less successfully under those conditions, with observations implicating altered <oxygen> supply to nodules. <Host sanctions and the legume-rhizobium mutualism by E. Toby Kiers and others>[2003, abstract: soybean sanctions, reduced rhizobial reproduction and oxygen-supply observations]{ref} This tests how resource exchange can stabilize <mutualism>. It does not imply that every legume forms nodules or that all partners respond identically.
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