Transgenic plants producing the bacterial pheromone N-acyl-homoserine lactone exhibit enhanced resistance to the bacterial phytopathogen Erwinia carotovora.

Bacterial pheromones, mainly different homoserine lactones, are central to a number of bacterial signaling processes, including those involved in plant pathogenicity. We previously demonstrated that N-oxoacyl-homoserine lactone (OHL) is essential for quorum sensing in the soft-rot phytopathogen Erwinia carotovora. In this pathogen, OHL controls the coordinate activation of genes encoding the main virulence determinants, extracellular plant cell wall degrading enzymes (PCWDEs), in a cell density-dependent manner. We suggest that E. carotovora employ quorum sensing to avoid the premature production of PCWDEs and subsequent activation of plant defense responses. To test whether modulating this sensory system would affect the outcome of a plant-pathogen interaction, we generated transgenic tobacco, producing OHL. This was accomplished by ectopic expression in tobacco of the E. carotovora gene expI, which is responsible for OHL biosynthesis. We show that expI-positive transgenic tobacco lines produced the active pheromone and partially complemented the avirulent phenotype of expI mutants. The OHL-producing tobacco lines exhibited enhanced resistance to infection by wild-type E. carotovora. The results were confirmed by exogenous addition of OHL to wild-type plants, which also resulted in increased resistance to E. carotovora.

Quorum sensing controls the synthesis of virulence factors by modulating rsmA gene expression in Erwinia carotovora subsp. carotovora.

The plant-pathogenic bacterium Erwinia carotovora subsp. carotovora (Ecc) causes disease mainly by means of a number of extracellular plant cell wall-degrading enzymes (PCWDEs), also referred to as virulence factors. The production of PCWDEs is coordinately activated by the diffusible signal molecule N-acyl-homoserine lactone (HSL) in a population density-dependent manner ("quorum sensing"). ExpI is the enzyme responsible for the synthesis of HSL. The Rsm system negatively regulates the production of PCWDEs. It includes three components: RsmA is an RNA-binding protein which promotes mRNA decay; rsmB is a unique regulator RNA, and RsmC regulates expression of rsmA positively and of rsmB negatively. We report here that in an expI knockout mutant of Ecc strain SCC3193, the levels of rsmA and rsmB RNA are remarkably enhanced in comparison to the wild-type strain, while the level of the rsmC transcript is not affected. The increase in transcription of rsmA in the expI strain represses production of PCWDEs, which in turn leads to the avirulent phenotype of this mutant. In the expI- mutant, addition of exogenous HSL caused repression of rsmA and rsmB transcription to the wild-type level, whereas the expression of rsmC was not affected. Taken together, these data suggest that HSL affects the expression of rsmA, and that this effect is not mediated by RsmC. This specific effect and the previous demonstration that HSL is required for PCWDE production in Ecc support the hypothesis that regulation by quorum sensing in Ecc, in contrast to most other systems already described, requires HSL to repress rsmA transcription, which in turn leads to the activation of PCWDE production. A model is presented that explains how HSL controls the production of PCWDEs by modulating the expression of rsmA.

Novel receptor-like protein kinases induced by Erwinia carotovora and short oligogalacturonides in potato.

summary Identification of potato genes responsive to cell wall-degrading enzymes of Erwinia carotovora resulted in the isolation of cDNA clones for four related receptor-like protein kinases. One of the putative serine-threonine protein kinases might have arisen through alternative splicing. These potato receptor-like kinases (PRK1-4) were highly equivalent (91-99%), most likely constituting a family of related receptors. All PRKs and four other plant RLKs share in their extracellular domain a conserved bi-modular pattern of cysteine repeats distinct from that in previously characterized plant RLKs, suggesting that they represent a new class of receptors. The corresponding genes were rapidly induced by E. carotovora culture filtrate (CF), both in the leaves and tubers of potato. Furthermore, the genes were transiently induced by short oligogalacturonides. The structural identity of PRKs and their induction pattern suggested that they constitute part of the early response of potato to E. carotovora infection.

Analysis of the 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid-degradative plasmid pEST4011 of Achromobacter xylosoxidans subsp. denitrificans strain EST4002.

The 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D)-degradative bacterium Achromobacter xylosoxidans subsp. denitrificans strain EST4002, isolated in Estonia more than 10years ago, was found to contain the 70kb plasmid pEST4011 that is responsible for the bacterium having had obtained a stable 2,4-D(+) phenotype. The tfd-like genes for 2, 4-D degradation of the strain EST4002 were located on a 10.5kb region of pEST4011, but without functional genes coding for chloromuconate cycloisomerase and chlorodienelactone hydrolase. The latter two genes are probably encoded by homologous, tcb-like genes, located elsewhere on pEST4011. We also present evidence of two copies of insertion element IS1071-like sequences on pEST4011. IS1071 is a class II (Tn3 family) insertion element, associated with different catabolic genes and operons and globally distributed in the recent past. We speculate that this insertion element might have had a role in the formation of plasmid pEST4011. The 28kb plasmid pEST4012 is generated by deletion from pEST4011 when cells of A. xylosoxidans EST4002 are grown in the absence of 2,4-D in growth medium. We propose that this is the result of homologous recombination between the two putative copies of IS1071-like sequences on pEST4011.

Quorum sensing in the plant pathogen Erwinia carotovora subsp. carotovora: the role of expR(Ecc).

The production of the main virulence determinants of the plant pathogen Erwinia carotovora subsp. carotovora, the extracellular cell wall-degrading enzymes, is partly controlled by the diffusible signal molecule N-(3-oxohexanoyl)-L-homoserine lactone (OHHL). OHHL is synthesized by the product of the expI/carI gene. Linked to expI we found a gene encoding a putative transcriptional regulator of the LuxR-family. This gene, expR(Ecc), is transcribed convergently to the expI gene and the two open reading frames are partially overlapping. The ExpR(Ecc) protein showed extensive amino acid sequence similarity to the repressor EsaR from Pantoea stewartii subsp. stewartii (formerly Erwinia stewartii subsp. stewartii) and to the ExpR(Ech) protein of Erwinia chrysanthemi. Inactivation of the E. carotovora subsp. carotovora expR(Ecc) gene caused no decrease in virulence or production of virulence determinants in vitro. In contrast, there was a slight increase in the maceration capacity of the mutant strain. The effects of ExpR(Ecc) were probably mediated by changes in OHHL levels. Inactivation of expR(Ecc) resulted in increased OHHL levels during early logarithmic growth. In addition, overexpression of expR(Ecc) caused a clear decrease in the production of virulence determinants and part of this effect was likely to be caused by OHHL binding to ExpR(Ecc). ExpR(Ecc) did not appear to exhibit transcriptional regulation of expI, but the effect on OHHL was apparently due to other mechanisms.

A two-component regulatory system, pehR-pehS, controls endopolygalacturonase production and virulence in the plant pathogen Erwinia carotovora subsp. carotovora.

Genes coding for the main virulence determinants of the plant pathogen Erwinia carotovora subsp. carotovora, the plant cell wall-degrading enzymes, are under the coordinate control of global regulator systems including both positive and negative factors. In addition to this global control, some virulence determinants are subject to specific regulation. We have previously shown that mutations in the pehR locus result in reduced virulence and impaired production of one of these enzymes, an endopolygalacturonase (PehA). In contrast, these pehR strains produce essentially wild-type levels of other extracellular enzymes including pectate lyases and cellulases. In this work, we characterized the pehR locus and showed that the DNA sequence is composed of two genes, designated pehR and pehS, present in an operon. Mutations in either pehR or pehS caused a Peh-negative phenotype and resulted in reduced virulence on tobacco seedlings. Complementation experiments indicated that both genes are required for transcriptional activation of the endopolygalacturonase gene, pehA, as well as restoration of virulence. Structural characterization of the pehR-pehS operon demonstrated that the corresponding polypeptides are highly similar to the two-component transcriptional regulators PhoP-PhoQ of both Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhimurium. Functional similarity of PehR-PehS with PhoP-PhoQ of E. coli and S. typhimurium was demonstrated by genetic complementation.

TfdR, the LysR-type transcriptional activator, is responsible for the activation of the tfdCB operon of Pseudomonas putida 2, 4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid degradative plasmid pEST4011.

In Pseudomonas putida EST4021, the tfdCB operon of plasmid pEST4011 encodes enzymes involved in 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid degradation. We have identified a gene, tfdR, important for the regulation of the tfdCB operon. Sequence analysis of the tfdR gene revealed an open reading frame with amino acid sequence similar to the LysR family of transcriptional activators. The tfdR gene is located upstream and transcribed divergently from the tfdCB operon. Utilizing primer extension analysis, the transcription initiation sites of the gene tfdR and the tfdCB operon were localized 85 (84)bp and 292bp upstream from the coding sequences of these genes, respectively. Multiple sequence analysis revealed that the genes tfdR, tfdC and tfdB of plasmid pEST4011 are most similar to the regulatory gene tfdR and the module 2 genes tfdC(II) and tfdB(II) of pJP4, respectively. The promoter-operator sequences of tfdR and its target tfdCB operon of pEST4011 have regions with highly conserved nucleotides characteristic for the catechol-subgroup LysR-type transcriptional activators. We showed that the pEST4011 tfdR gene product activates the expression of the tfdCB operon and the effector molecule for TfdR is 2,4-dichloro-cis,cis-muconate. Our data indicate that the structure and the mode of regulation of tfd genes are similar, despite the bacteria being isolated from different geographical regions.

Sequence analysis of the 2,4-dichlorophenol hydroxylase gene tfdB and 3,5-dichlorocatechol 1,2-dioxygenase gene tfdC of 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid degrading plasmid pEST4011.

Chlorocatechol 1,2-dioxygenase (CC12O) and 1,2-dichlorophenol hydroxylase (DCPH) encoding genes tfdC and tfdB are located on a 4.2-kb DNA fragment cloned from the 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4D) degrading plasmid pEST4011. The nucleotide sequences of tfdC and tfdB were determined. The DCPH is coded by a 1758-bp gene and CC12O is coded by a 762-bp gene. The deduced M(r) of these proteins are 64.09 kDa and 28.2 kDa, respectively. Expression analysis of tfdB and tfdC in Escherichia coli suggested that these genes form one operon, tfdCB.

Characterization of a novel pectate lyase from Erwinia carotovora subsp. carotovora.

The pectate lyase (Pel, EC 4.2.2.2) isoenzyme profile of Erwinia carotovora subsp. carotovora was characterized by isoelectric focusing, and the corresponding genes coding for four different exported Pels were cloned. The nucleotide sequence of the pelB gene encoding one of these isoenzymes was determined and was shown to contain 1,040-bp open reading frame coding for a 37,482-Da protein with a putative cleavable amino terminal signal peptide. Overexpression and selective labeling experiments with the pelB clone demonstrated the synthesis of a 35-kDa polypeptide, which is in accordance with the deduced size of the processed PelB. The predicted amino acid sequence of PelB was very similar to that of Pel-3 of another E.c. subsp. carotovora strain 71, but showed no similarity to other previously characterized pectinolytic enzymes. The pelB gene is located next to the previously characterized pehA gene encoding an endopolygalacturonase. The two genes are divergently transcribed from a common control region and are subject to similar global regulation by the central virulence regulator expI. Inactivation of pelB did not appear to reduce the virulence of the mutant strain, suggesting that pelB does not have a major role in pathogenicity. Unlike other Pels, PelB required partially methyl esterified pectin as substrate suggesting that PelB represents a novel isoform of pectate lyase.