Flagellin from Pseudomonas syringae pv. tabaci induced hrp-independent HR in tomato

We have previously shown that flagellin of Pseudomonas syringae pv. tabaci is an elicitor that induces a hypersensitive reaction (HR) in nonhost tomato cells. Flagellin is the major HR elicitor produced by this pathogen, as shown by the inability of a flagellin-defective mutant, ΔfliC, to induce HR. Also, a ΔfliD mutant that secretes large amounts of monomer flagellins induces a strong HR in tomato. In this study, the possible involvement of an Hrp type III secretion system (TTSS) in flagellin-induced HR was investigated using flagella-defective mutants or Hrp TTSS-defective mutants. The hrcC gene encodes HrcC protein, which is required for Hrp pilus formation in the outer membrane. An hrcC mutation, introduced into the wild-type, ΔfliC, and ΔfliD mutants of P. syringae pv. tabaci did not affect swimming motility or flagellin secretion, whereas all ΔhrcC, ΔfliC, and ΔfliD mutants lost the ability to cause disease on host tobacco leaves. However, the ΔhrcC mutant and the ΔfliD/ΔhrcC double mutant were still able to induce HR cell death, expression of one of the defense-related genes hsr203J, and the generation of hydrogen peroxide in nonhost tomato cells. Thus, flagellin is required for both pathogenicity in host tobacco and HR in nonhost tomato. On the other hand, hrp TTSS is necessary for pathogenicity on host tobacco but is not indispensable to induce HR in nonhost tomato. These results clearly show that flagellin-induced HR is hrp-independent in tomato.The nucleotide sequence data reported are available in the DDBJ/EMBL/GenBank databases under the accession number AB049570     

Hpa1 secretion via type III secretion system in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Xanthomonas oryzae</Emphasis> pv. <Emphasis Type="Italic">oryzae</Emphasis>

In many Gram-negative plant pathogenic bacteria the type III secretion system (TTSS), encoded by hrp genes, is essential for pathogenicity in the host and induction of a hypersensitive reaction (HR) in nonhost plants. The expression of hrp genes has been suggested to be repressed in complex media, whereas it is induced in planta and under certain in vitro conditions. We recently reported that XOM2 medium allows efficient hrp expression by Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae. In this study, we investigated hrp-dependent secretion of proteins by the bacteria in vitro. Using modified XOM2, in which bovine serum albumin was added and the pH was lowered to 6.0, we detected at least 10 secreted proteins and identified one as Hpa1. This is the first evidence of protein secretion via TTSS in X. oryzae pv. oryzae.     

Identification of dspEF, hrpW, and hrpN loci and characterization of the hrpN Ep gene in Erwinia pyrifoliae

Erwinia pyrifoliae, the causal pathogen of shoot blight in the Asian pear tree (Pyrus pyrifolia cv. Singo), is host-specific and endemic to Korea. To identify the genes associated with the hypersensitive response (HR) and pathogenicity, a genomic library of E. pyrifoliae WT3 was constructed, and the cosmid clone Escherichia coli (pCEP33) was selected. Sequence analysis of 19.7-kb pCEP33 determined disease-specific (dsp) region homolog and approximately 40% of the hrp genes, which included hrpW, hrpN_Ep, hrpV, hrpT, hrcC, hrpG, hrpF, and partial hrpE homologs, with respect to the cluster of Erwinia amylovora. Additionally, two open reading frames, ORFD and ORFE, were found downstream of the dspEF region. The results of the sequence analysis showed that the pCEP33 did not contain any hrp regulatory genes or most of the genes encoding components of the Hrp protein secretion system. The hrpN_Ep gene of E. pyrifoliae contained five intergenic nucleotide fragment insertions (INFIs) and produced the HR elicitor protein harpin_Ep, with a molecular mass of approximately 44kDa. The purified HrpN_Ep protein elicited faster and stronger HR when infiltrated into tobacco leaves than did HrpN_Ea from E. amylovora. To observe the role of the hrpL gene in the expression of HrpN_Ep, the pEL2 containing hrpL was used to transform E. coli (pCEP33). Expression of HrpN_Ep in E. coli (pCEP33 + pEPL2) was detected with an immunoblot using antiserum raised against HrpN_Ep, indicating a role of hrpL gene in enhancing the expression of HrpN_Ep.     

hrpE基因在水稻条斑病菌Hrp pilus形成和致病性中起重要作用

 水稻条斑病菌(Xanthomonas oryzae pv.oryzicola,Xooc)的hrp(hypersensitive response and pathogenicity)基因簇编码形成Ⅲ型分泌系统(T3SS),将致病性的效应分子通过HrpF转位装置注入水稻细胞中,从而导致水稻产生抗(感)病性,但Xooc的HrpE是否形成Hrp pilus还不清楚。本研究对Xooc的hrpE基因进行突变,发现hrpE突变体在水稻上丧失致病性和在烟草上丧失激发HR的能力。与水稻互作结果显示,hrpE突变体不能够与水稻细胞互作,其在水稻组织中的生长能力显著下降。电镜结果显示,hrpE突变体不能够形成Hrp pilus,从而导致水稻条斑病菌丧失在水稻上的致病性。功能互补结果显示,完整的hrpE基因可以恢复hrpE突变体在烟草上激发HR反应的能力、在水稻上的致病性以及在水稻薄壁细胞间形成Hrp pilus的能力,表明hrpE基因形成Hrp pilus是水稻条斑病菌分泌致病性效应分子的重要条件。     

Gene for pathogenicity and ability to cause the hypersensitive reaction cloned from Erwinia amylovora

A genomic library of Erwinia amylovora isolate T was constructed in the cosmid pLAFR3 and maintained in Escherichia coli. Clones were transferred individually by conjugation into the non-pathogenic isolate P66 of E. amylovora. Transconjugants were screened for restoration of pathogenicity to pear by stab inoculation into sections of immature pear fruits. Three clones complemented P66 restoring pathogenicity and ability to cause the hypersensitive reaction (HR) in Phaseolus vulgaris. Restriction mapping and hybridization experiments showed that the three clones had a common 3·7 kb fragment of E. amylovora DNA. Sub-cloning and insertion mutagenesis with Tn5-lac confirmed that a determinant of pathogenicity and ability to cause the HR (hrp gene) was located on a 2·1 kb HindIII/BamHI fragment within the common DNA. Hybridization experiments using the 2·1 kb HindIII/BamHI fragment as a probe demonstrated that the hrp gene was located in the chromosome of isolate T and that homologous sequences were present in the non-pathogenic isolates P66 and S. Clones which restored hrp function did not affect the growth of isolate P66 in minimal or nutrient-rich media. Transconjugants of Pseudomonas syringae pv. phaseolicola race 1 harbouring the hrp gene(s) cloned from E. amylovora did not cause the HR in susceptible cultivars of bean but symptoms developed more slowly than in the absence of the clones or with pLAFR3 alone.     

Mutational analysis of type III effector genes from <Emphasis Type="Italic">Xanthomonas citri</Emphasis> subsp. <Emphasis Type="Italic">citri</Emphasis>

Xanthomonas citri subsp. citri, the causal agent of citrus canker, relies extensively on a type III secretion system for infection by delivering type III effectors into host cells. In the genus Xanthomonas, two major regulators, HrpG and HrpX, are involved in the expression of genes encoding the type III secretion system. Twenty-three candidate type III effectors were identified as targets for analysis. The involvement in pathogenicity of 20 candidate effector genes in X. citri strain 306 (Xcc-306) was investigated using site-directed mutagenesis. Pathogenicity assays in grapefruit of 19 genes using site-directed mutagenesis revealed that none of the mutants demonstrated to have reduced ability to cause canker disease. A mutation in the TAL effector pthA4 ^– resulted in loss of hypertrophy although no changes were observed in bacterial growth in leaves. Mutations in hrpG, hrpX, or hrpA genes displayed a complete loss of pathogenicity. Moreover, all mutants maintained the ability to trigger a hypersensitive response (HR) in non-host tomato. In contrast to previous studies, hrpG ^– , hrpX ^– and hrpA ^– mutants also retained the ability to elicit an HR in tomato, indicating the presence of an Hrp independent elicitor in Xcc-306.     

水稻条斑病菌hrpB1基因决定寄主致病性和非寄主过敏反应的功能研究

水稻条斑病菌(Xanthomonas oryzaepv.oryzicola,Xoc)的hrp基因决定了病原菌在非寄主植物上的过敏反应(hypersensitive response,HR)和在寄主植物上的致病性(pathogenicity),基因产物形成Ⅲ型分泌系统(type-Ⅲ secretion system,T3SS)将致病性效应分子注入寄主细胞从而引起水稻产生抗病性或者感病性反应。以位于hrpB操纵单元的首个hr-pB1基因为对象,通过基因敲除方式对其进行了突变,发现hrpB1突变体丧失了在水稻上的致病性和在烟草上激发HR的能力,并且在水稻组织中的生长能力显著降低。RT-PCR测定结果表明,hrpB1的转录表达受HrpG和HrpX的正调控。免疫杂交结果显示,HrpB1蛋白可通过T3SS进行分泌。这些结果不仅明确了hrpB1基因在病原菌致病性中的功能,而且提示了hrp结构基因不仅仅局限于形成Ⅲ型分泌系统,部分hrp基因产物本身也通过Ⅲ型系统分泌到胞外,并且可能起到效应分子的功能。     

水稻白叶枯病菌(Xanthomonas oryzae pv.oryzae)化学诱变hrp基因突变体及相关性状的研究

 硫酸二乙酯(diethyl sulfate,DES)化学诱变水稻白叶枯病菌(Xanthomonas oryzae pv.oryzae,Xoo)日本系统III号小种(JXOIII),获得16株hrp-突变体,其在感病寄主水稻IR26、汕优63上失去致病性和在非寄主烟草上失去过敏反应。所得的hrp-突变体并无黄色素缺失现象。16株hrp-突变体的淀粉酶、果胶酶、蛋白酶、纤维素酶和脂酶等胞外酶活性基本与野生型一致。JCM2092、JCM2211、JCM2252和JCM2457这4株hrp-突变体为III型泌出通道突变体,JCM0066等另12株hrp-突变体的超声波破碎液、离心上清液中无激发HR的信号物质存在。细胞组分分析表明,激发烟草HR的信号物质不是LPS而是蛋白类物质。来自JXOIII基因文库hrp基因克隆pUHRX245中的1.1kb SacI-KpnI片段,能够互补hrp-突变体JCM0066和JCM2482,使其恢复在烟草上激发HR的能力,但不能恢复其致病性。     

Harpin-elicited hypersensitive cell death and pathogen resistance require the NDR1 and EDS1 genes

Plants sprayed with harpin, a bacterial protein that induces hypersensitive cell death (HCD), develop systemic acquired resistance (SAR) without macroscopic necrosis. HCD sometimes accompanies the development of resistance conferred by resistance (R) genes. In Arabidopsis, some R genes require one or both of the signalling components NDR1 and EDS1 for function. This study addresses whether HCD, NDR1 and EDS1 are required for induction of SAR by harpin. When Arabidopsis and tobacco leaves were sprayed with harpin, microscopic hypersensitive response (micro-HR) lesions developed. Systemic expression of PR genes and the development of resistance were accompanied by micro-HR, except in the ndr1-1 mutant, in which harpin induced micro-HR without the development of resistance or expression of the PR-1 gene. Cell death and resistance did not occur following treatment with harpin in plants that could not accumulate salicylic acid. Harpin also failed to induce resistance in Arabidopsis eds1-1 mutants. Therefore, harpin-induced resistance seems to develop concomitantly with cell death and resistance requires NDR1 and EDS1.     

Genetic characterisation of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Pectobacterium wasabiae</Emphasis> causing soft rot disease of potato in New Zealand

Pectobacterium wasabiae has a narrow host range, having previously only been associated with Japanese horseradish. However, recent characterisation of Pectobacterium causing soft rotting in New Zealand has identified putative P. wasabiae isolates pathogenic to potato. In this study, phylogenetic reconstruction of acnA and mdh DNA sequences and fluorescent amplified fragment length polymorphisms (fAFLP) were used to confirm the identity of the putative P. wasabiae isolates. Both methods clustered the potato isolates closely with the type strain for P. wasabiae, ICMP9121, and also differentiated them from other plant pathogenic enterobacteria. PCR, DNA hybridisation and hypersensitive response (HR) assays were subsequently used to investigate the presence in P. wasabiae of the type III secretion system (T3SS) as well as other virulence factors known to be involved in development of disease by enterobacteria. Although all P. wasabiae strains appeared to elicit a type III-dependent HR in tobacco, genes associated with the T3SS and the putative virulence factors HecB and DspE could not be detected. Thus, genetic characterisation of P. wasabiae confirmed that it is a naturally occurring pathogen on potato, which does not possess the same suite of virulence factors that are involved in the pathogenicity of other enterobacteria on this host.     

Hypersensitive response suppression by type III effectors of plant pathogenic bacteria

The suppressor activity of four representative avirulence (avr) genes from the Pseudomonas syringae group against elicitors of a general hypersensitive response (HR) was examined in tobacco leaves inoculated with double transformants of Pseudomonas fluorescens containing both a cosmid plasmid (pHIR11) carrying the hrp gene cluster and a plasmid carrying each avr gene. The double transformants Pf (pHIR11) containing avrB, avrRps4, or avrPto failed to induce an HR, but that carrying avrRpt2 did induce an HR as Pf (pHIR11 + empty vector) did. Thus, some Avr proteins seem to have suppressor activity against a general HR and should promote aggressiveness of the pathogens.     

Harpinpsta from Pseudomonas syringae pv. tabaci Is Defective and Deficient in Its Expression and HR-inducing Activity

To elucidate the role of harpins produced by Pseudomonas syringae, the corresponding hrpZ gene was isolated from P. s. pv. tabaci. The sequence information revealed that this gene carries a serious mutation with 326 bp lacking in the central region and potentially encodes only 140 N-terminal amino acids because of a frame shift. The investigation of biological properties using recombinant harpin indicated harpin_psta was incapable of inducing HR in both host and nonhost plants. Based on an immunoblot analysis to detect harpin from P. s. pathovars in hrp-inducing medium, the truncated harpin_psta was neither expressed nor secreted into the culture medium. These results suggest that harpin is not the sole determinant of the host-parasite specificity in P. s. pv. tabaci. Received 10 August 2000/ Accepted in revised form 21 December 2000     

利用编码harpin蛋白的基因遗传改良生防荧光假单胞菌2P24

荧光假单胞菌Pseudomonas fluorescens 2P24是根围促生细菌（PGPR）,具有Ⅲ型分泌系统（T3SS）。为了在2P24中表达植物过敏反应激发子harpin,赋予生防菌诱导抗病性能力,本文选择可在2P24中表达的来自Pseudomonas syringae pv.tomato DC3000的avrPto1基因启动子与水稻细菌性条斑病菌Xanthomonasoryzae pv.oryzicola harpin蛋白编码基因hpa1进行融合,实现了harpin蛋白在2P24的表达。重组菌株通过T3SS分泌harpin蛋白,可激发烟草产生过敏反应（HR）,激活HR途径的HIN1基因和HRS203J基因以及病程相关蛋白PR1a基因的转录表达。harpin重组菌株与2P24一样,对小麦赤霉病菌Fusarium graminearum和棉花枯萎病菌F.oxysporum f.sp.vasinfectum具有抑制作用。这为利用植物-病原物互作中激发植物产生抗病性的激发子来遗传改良生防微生物奠定了理论和实践基础。     

超敏蛋白对烟草黄瓜花叶病毒的诱导抗性及生长、品质的影响

为明确超敏蛋白对烟草黄瓜花叶病毒(Cucumber mosaic virus,CMV)的诱导抗性及其生长、品质的影响,采用半叶枯斑法和田间试验研究了10%超敏蛋白对枯斑三生烟和普通烟的诱导抗性及促生作用,并分析了对烤烟经济性状和内在质量的影响。结果表明,10%超敏蛋白在活体外对CMV无钝化作用,但预防、治疗效果显著,接种前48 h喷施预防效果达75.70%,接种后24 h喷施治疗效果达65.45%,均显著高于对照;10%超敏蛋白处理后烟草的株高、茎围、最大叶面积均高于其它处理,单位产量比20%吗啉胍·乙铜可湿性粉剂处理增产211.8 kg/hm2,增值3 519.2元/hm2;经10%超敏蛋白处理后的烤烟化学成分均处于优质烟的适宜质量分数范围内。表明超敏蛋白不仅有利于提高烟草抗性和促进烟株生长,且可以明显提高烟叶经济效益和烟叶内在质量。     

Characterization of the incompatible interaction between Erwinia tracheiphila and non-host tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum)

Bacterial wilt is one of the most destructive diseases affecting a wide range of crops in the Cucurbits family including muskmelon (Cucumis melo), cucumber (Cucumis sativus), and squash (Cucubita pepo). The disease is caused by Erwinia tracheiphila, a Gram-negative and xylem-inhabiting species of Erwinia, which pathogenic mechanism is poorly understood. Many Gram-negative phytobacteria induce hypersensitive response (HR) in non-host plants, an immunity reaction triggered by pathogen recognition. With some exemptions, Erwinia species—notably E. amylovora, the causative agent of fire blight of rosaceous crops, and the reclassified soft rot pathogens, Pectobacterium and Dickeya species (formerly E. carotovora and E. chrysanthemi)—have been known to elicit HR in tobacco. However, concerning its pathogenic mechanism, the elicitation of classic HR has not been reported for some less-studied Erwinia species including E. tracheiphila. We characterized the induction of HR by the bacterial wilt pathogen in tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum cultivar ‘Xanthi’) using visual and physiological methods. We surveyed 21 E. tracheiphila strains and found that all of them elicited programmed cell death. Three strains (HCa1-5, UnisCu1-1, and MISpSq) fluorescently labeled with GFP could be visualized in the infiltrated leaves. We aligned the sequences of their HR-inducing protein, harpin (HrpN), predicted the secondary structures, and located the position of putative HR elicitors. We discovered differences between Cucurbita and Cucumis strains and found a close association of E. tracheiphila HrpN with those of Pantoea sp., Erwinia piriflorinigrans, and Erwinia pyrifoliae. Pre-infiltration of tobacco leaves with a lower cell population prevented HR following a subsequent challenge at the same area with HR-inducing levels of inoculum. The selected strains induced leaf conductivity levels similar to the HR-inducing E. amylovora strain E9, and their populations in the leaves decreased days after infiltration. Our results indicate that E. tracheiphila induces a classic HR in tobacco just like other HR-inducing Erwinia species.     

Distribution of avirulence genes <Emphasis Type="Italic">avrA</Emphasis> and <Emphasis Type="Italic">popP1</Emphasis> in 22 Japanese phylotype I strains of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Ralstonia solanacearum</Emphasis>

Sequence analysis of hrp loci and effector genes in the flanking regions showed significantly high similarities between two phylotype I strains of Ralstonia solanacearum, GMI1000 and Japanese strain OE1-1. Further sequence analysis of the distribution of avrA and popP1, known as determinants of a hypersensitive response (HR) induction on Nicotiana tabacum (tobacco), in 22 Japanese phylotype I strains revealed that all strains had one of the two distinct avrA alleles and that 10 strains had an identical popP1 but the other 12 did not. After infiltration of tobacco leaves, more than half of these 22 strains elicited HR. In combination with the ability to induce HR, avrA and popP1 are thus not likely to be the sole determinants of HR in Japanese phylotype I strains.