The successful completion of the soybean genome sequence in 2010 enabled the application of the full range of genomic tools and methods to the study of the nitrogen fixing rhizobial symbiosis. This symbiosis is the result of infection of soybean roots by the soil bacterium,
Bradyrhizobium japonicum. In order to more precisely study the early infection events during the establishment of this symbiosis, my laboratory pioneered the use of isolated root hair cells as a single cell model for systems biology. We have applied the full repertoire of functional genomic methods to this system characterizing, for example, the transcriptome, proteome, phosphoproteome, miRNA, DNA methylation, and others. These studies, within the context of a general focus on soybean genomics, has enabled us to compile a large dataset, which has provided novel insight into the mechanisms by which the nitrogen fixing symbiosis is established. Among these important insights is the growing realization that the plant innate immunity system plays an important role in the symbiosis.
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