Fifty-two soybean rhizobia isolated from root nodules of 9 soybean cultivars of soil samples collected from seven different sites in China were studied by phenotypic characteristics, host specificity , 16S rDNA PCR-RFLP, 16S rDNA IGS PCR-RFLP, RAPD, REP-ERIC-PCR and DNA-DNA hybridization. They were compared with twenty-three type strains representing Sinorhizobium fredii, Bradyrhizobium japonicum and other Rhizobium type species. The diversity and phylogeny of fifty-two strains were carefully stu...