A horizontally acquired expansin gene increases virulence of the emerging plant pathogen Erwinia tracheiphila

Abstract Erwinia tracheiphila is a bacterial plant pathogen that causes a fatal wilt infection in some cucurbit crop plants. Wilt symptoms are thought to be caused by systemic bacterial colonization through xylem that impedes sap flow. However, the genetic determinants of within-plant movement are u...

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Autores principales:	Jorge Rocha, Lori R. Shapiro, Roberto Kolter
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Nature Portfolio 2020
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/9f963a3af1434b7caabc565c78b9619a
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:9f963a3af1434b7caabc565c78b9619a2021-12-02T11:43:59ZA horizontally acquired expansin gene increases virulence of the emerging plant pathogen Erwinia tracheiphila10.1038/s41598-020-78157-w2045-2322https://doaj.org/article/9f963a3af1434b7caabc565c78b9619a2020-12-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-78157-whttps://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract Erwinia tracheiphila is a bacterial plant pathogen that causes a fatal wilt infection in some cucurbit crop plants. Wilt symptoms are thought to be caused by systemic bacterial colonization through xylem that impedes sap flow. However, the genetic determinants of within-plant movement are unknown for this pathogen species. Here, we find that E. tracheiphila has horizontally acquired an operon with a microbial expansin (exlx) gene adjacent to a glycoside hydrolase family 5 (gh5) gene. Plant inoculation experiments with deletion mutants in the individual genes (Δexlx and Δgh5) and the full operon (Δexlx–gh5) resulted in decreased severity of wilt symptoms, decreased mortality rate, and impaired systemic colonization compared to the Wt strain. Co-inoculation experiments with Wt and Δexlx–gh5 rescued the movement defect of the mutant strain, suggesting that expansin and GH5 function extracellularly. Together, these results show that expansin–GH5 contributes to systemic movement through xylem, leading to rapid wilt symptom development and higher rates of plant death. The presence of expansin genes in diverse species of bacterial and fungal wilt-inducing pathogens suggests that microbial expansin proteins may be an under-appreciated virulence factor for many pathogen species.Jorge RochaLori R. ShapiroRoberto KolterNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 10, Iss 1, Pp 1-15 (2020)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Jorge Rocha Lori R. Shapiro Roberto Kolter A horizontally acquired expansin gene increases virulence of the emerging plant pathogen Erwinia tracheiphila
description	Abstract Erwinia tracheiphila is a bacterial plant pathogen that causes a fatal wilt infection in some cucurbit crop plants. Wilt symptoms are thought to be caused by systemic bacterial colonization through xylem that impedes sap flow. However, the genetic determinants of within-plant movement are unknown for this pathogen species. Here, we find that E. tracheiphila has horizontally acquired an operon with a microbial expansin (exlx) gene adjacent to a glycoside hydrolase family 5 (gh5) gene. Plant inoculation experiments with deletion mutants in the individual genes (Δexlx and Δgh5) and the full operon (Δexlx–gh5) resulted in decreased severity of wilt symptoms, decreased mortality rate, and impaired systemic colonization compared to the Wt strain. Co-inoculation experiments with Wt and Δexlx–gh5 rescued the movement defect of the mutant strain, suggesting that expansin and GH5 function extracellularly. Together, these results show that expansin–GH5 contributes to systemic movement through xylem, leading to rapid wilt symptom development and higher rates of plant death. The presence of expansin genes in diverse species of bacterial and fungal wilt-inducing pathogens suggests that microbial expansin proteins may be an under-appreciated virulence factor for many pathogen species.
format	article
author	Jorge Rocha Lori R. Shapiro Roberto Kolter
author_facet	Jorge Rocha Lori R. Shapiro Roberto Kolter
author_sort	Jorge Rocha
title	A horizontally acquired expansin gene increases virulence of the emerging plant pathogen Erwinia tracheiphila
title_short	A horizontally acquired expansin gene increases virulence of the emerging plant pathogen Erwinia tracheiphila
title_full	A horizontally acquired expansin gene increases virulence of the emerging plant pathogen Erwinia tracheiphila
title_fullStr	A horizontally acquired expansin gene increases virulence of the emerging plant pathogen Erwinia tracheiphila
title_full_unstemmed	A horizontally acquired expansin gene increases virulence of the emerging plant pathogen Erwinia tracheiphila
title_sort	horizontally acquired expansin gene increases virulence of the emerging plant pathogen erwinia tracheiphila
publisher	Nature Portfolio
publishDate	2020
url	https://doaj.org/article/9f963a3af1434b7caabc565c78b9619a
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A horizontally acquired expansin gene increases virulence of the emerging plant pathogen Erwinia tracheiphila

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