Need for flagella for complete virulence of Pseudomonas syringae pv. tabaci: genetic analysis with flagella-defective mutants ?fliC and ?fliD in host tobacco plants

The flagellins purified from Pseudomonas syringae pv. tabaci induce a hypersensitive reaction in nonhost tomato cells. To investigate the role of flagella and flagellin in the compatible interaction, we generated two types of flagella-defective mutant. The fliC mutant lost the fliC gene that encodes flagellin protein, whereas the fliD mutant lost the fliD gene that encodes HAP2-capping protein. The two mutants had markedly reduced ability to cause disease symptoms in tobacco leaves. Furthermore, propagation of the mutants in tobacco leaves was less than that in wild-type pv. tabaci. Compared to the inoculation with wild-type pv. tabaci, inoculation with the two mutants did not markedly induce the expression of typical defense response-related genes such as PAL and hsr203J. Complementation of each fliC and fliD gene to the corresponding deficient mutant restored motility and virulence. These results indicate that flagella of P. syringae pv. tabaci are indispensable organelles for complete virulence on host tobacco plants.     

PCR–RFLP identifies differences in hrpZ sequences to distinguish two genetic groups of Pseudomonas syringae pv. syringae strains from barley and wheat with bacterial black nod

Differences in hrpZ sequences determined by polymerase chain reaction (PCR)–restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) were used to investigate the molecular epidemiology of Pseudomonas syringae pv. syringae (PSS) strains that were isolated from diseased barley and wheat plants in Okayama, Japan. PCR–RFLP using HhaI separated PSS strains into two groups (A and B). Although specific PCR–RFLP groups of PSS strains were not always isolated from specific cultivars or seeds produced in a specific area, many strains isolated from barley and wheat belonged to PCR–RFLP groups A and B, respectively.