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Role and regulation of the Flp/Tad pilus in the virulence of Pectobacterium atrosepticum SCRI1043 and Pectobacterium wasabiae SCC3193
- Source :
- PLoS ONE, Vol 8, Iss 9, p e73718 (2013), PLoS ONE
- Publication Year :
- 2013
- Publisher :
- Public Library of Science (PLoS), 2013.
-
Abstract
- In this study, we characterized a putative Flp/Tad pilus-encoding gene cluster, and we examined its regulation at the transcriptional level and its role in the virulence of potato pathogenic enterobacteria of the genus Pectobacterium. The Flp/Tad pilus-encoding gene clusters in Pectobacterium atrosepticum, Pectobacterium wasabiae and Pectobacterium aroidearum were compared to previously characterized flp/tad gene clusters, including that of the well-studied Flp/Tad pilus model organism Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans, in which this pilus is a major virulence determinant. Comparative analyses revealed substantial protein sequence similarity and open reading frame synteny between the previously characterized flp/tad gene clusters and the cluster in Pectobacterium, suggesting that the predicted flp/tad gene cluster in Pectobacterium encodes a Flp/Tad pilus-like structure. We detected genes for a novel two-component system adjacent to the flp/tad gene cluster in Pectobacterium, and mutant analysis demonstrated that this system has a positive effect on the transcription of selected Flp/Tad pilus biogenesis genes, suggesting that this response regulator regulate the flp/tad gene cluster. Mutagenesis of either the predicted regulator gene or selected Flp/Tad pilus biogenesis genes had a significant impact on the maceration ability of the bacterial strains in potato tubers, indicating that the Flp/Tad pilus-encoding gene cluster represents a novel virulence determinant in Pectobacterium. Soft-rot enterobacteria in the genera Pectobacterium and Dickeya are of great agricultural importance, and an investigation of the virulence of these pathogens could facilitate improvements in agricultural practices, thus benefiting farmers, the potato industry and consumers.
- Subjects :
- Pectobacterium
education
Molecular Sequence Data
Pectobacterium wasabiae
Virulence
lcsh:Medicine
Dickeya
Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans
Pilus
Microbiology
03 medical and health sciences
Bacterial Proteins
Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid
Gene cluster
lcsh:Science
Pectobacterium atrosepticum
1183 Plant biology, microbiology, virology
Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis
Plant Diseases
Solanum tuberosum
030304 developmental biology
Regulator gene
0303 health sciences
Multidisciplinary
Base Sequence
biology
Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
030306 microbiology
lcsh:R
414 Agricultural biotechnology
Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial
biology.organism_classification
Plant Tubers
Biofilms
Fimbriae, Bacterial
Multigene Family
lcsh:Q
Transcriptome
Research Article
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 19326203
- Volume :
- 8
- Issue :
- 9
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- PLoS ONE
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....2fdd0c6c7321736d05bcea61c702e287