Ralstonia solanacearum Requires PopS, an Ancient AvrE-Family Effector, for Virulence and To Overcome Salicylic Acid-Mediated Defenses during Tomato Pathogenesis

During bacterial wilt of tomato, the plant pathogen Ralstonia solanacearum upregulates expression of popS, which encodes a type III-secreted effector in the AvrE family. PopS is a core effector present in all sequenced strains in the R. solanacearum species complex. The phylogeny of popS mirrors that of the species complex as a whole, suggesting that this is an ancient, vertically inherited effector needed for association with plants. A popS mutant of R. solanacearum UW551 had reduced virulence on agriculturally important Solanum spp., including potato and tomato plants. However, the popS mutant had wild-type virulence on a weed host, Solanum dulcamara, suggesting that some species can avoid the effects of PopS. The popS mutant was also significantly delayed in colonization of tomato stems compared to the wild type. Some AvrE-type effectors from gammaproteobacteria suppress salicylic acid (SA)-mediated plant defenses, suggesting that PopS, a betaproteobacterial ortholog, has a similar function. Indeed, the popS mutant induced significantly higher expression of tomato SA-triggered pathogenesis-related (PR) genes than the wild type. Further, pretreatment of roots with SA exacerbated the popS mutant virulence defect. Finally, the popS mutant had no colonization defect on SA-deficient NahG transgenic tomato plants. Together, these results indicate that this conserved effector suppresses SA-mediated defenses in tomato roots and stems, which are R. solanacearum’s natural infection sites. Interestingly, PopS did not trigger necrosis when heterologously expressed in Nicotiana leaf tissue, unlike the AvrE homolog DspEPcc from the necrotroph Pectobacterium carotovorum subsp. carotovorum. This is consistent with the differing pathogenesis modes of necrosis-causing gammaproteobacteria and biotrophic R. solanacearum.
IMPORTANCE The type III-secreted AvrE effector family is widely distributed in high-impact plant-pathogenic bacteria and is known to suppress plant defenses for virulence. We characterized the biology of PopS, the only AvrE homolog made by the bacterial wilt pathogen Ralstonia solanacearum. To our knowledge, this is the first study of R. solanacearum effector function in roots and stems, the natural infection sites of this pathogen. Unlike the functionally redundant R. solanacearum effectors studied to date, PopS is required for full virulence and wild-type colonization of two natural crop hosts. R. solanacearum is a biotrophic pathogen that causes a nonnecrotic wilt. Consistent with this, PopS suppressed plant defenses but did not elicit cell death, unlike AvrE homologs from necrosis-causing plant pathogens. We propose that AvrE family effectors have functionally diverged to adapt to the necrotic or nonnecrotic lifestyle of their respective pathogens.