RNA metabolism in Xylella fastidiosa during cold adaptation and survival responses

Authors: Burbank, Lindsey

Submitted to: American Society for Microbiology
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/5/2018
Publication Date: 6/7/2018
Citation: Burbank, L.P. 2018. RNA metabolism in Xylella fastidiosa during cold adaptation and survival responses. American Society for Microbiology. Presented at the American Society for Microbiology Meeting, June 7-11, 2018, in Atlanta, GA.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Fastidious plant pathogen Xylella fastidiosa has a reduced ability to adapt to cold temperatures, limiting persistence in perennial hosts, such as grapevine, growing in colder regions. RNA metabolism is an essential part of bacterial response to low temperature, including inducible expression of RNA binding proteins, helicases, and exoribonucleases. Characterization of the two X. fastidiosa RNA-binding family cold shock protein (CSP) homologs revealed that neither was cold-inducible at the transcriptional or post-transcriptional level, suggesting a diminished cold adaptation response in this pathogen. However, Csp1 appears to still have a role in X. fastidiosa cold response, likely via other aspects of RNA metabolism. Expression of X. fastidiosa cold response RNA helicase, srmB, is reduced in a CSP mutant ('csp1) compared with wild type X. fastidiosa. Additionally, the genomic location of csp1 is directly downstream of a purine nucleoside phosphorylase homolog (pnp), putatively involved in RNA turnover. The relationship between Csp1 and RNA transcript processing during cold response in X. fastidiosa is currently being explored through transcript profiling of csp1, srmB, and pnp knockout mutant strains exposed to low temperatures. Understanding the cold-adaptation process of X. fastidiosa is important as it relates to the ability of this pathogen to survive through the winter in infected plants, depending on geographic location and climatic conditions.