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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Ithaca, New York » Robert W. Holley Center for Agriculture & Health » Emerging Pests and Pathogens Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #412828
Research Project: Advancing Knowledge of the Biology and Etiology of Bacterial Plant Pathogens Towards Management Strategies

Location: Emerging Pests and Pathogens Research

Title: Environmental alkalization suppresses deployment of virulence strategies in Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato DC3000

Author
item YANG, ZICHU - Cornell University
item WANG, HAIBI - Cornell University
item CHEN, HSIAO-CHUN - University Of Georgia
item KVITKO, BRIAN - University Of Georgia
item Swingle, Bryan

Submitted to: Journal of Bacteriology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 10/5/2024
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: Plants have an immune system that naturally protects them from bacterial infection and helps contain and prevent further growth of the pathogen. As part of the activation of the immune system, there is an increase in the pH of the area around the infection. In this study, we tested whether this increase in pH affects a pathogens gene expression. We found that elevated pH suppressed expression of many bacterial virulence and pathogenic functions. We also found part of the bacteria’s cellular machinery that is responsible for sensing the elevated pH and responding to that by changing bacterial gene expression. These results contribute to a deeper understanding of the role of pH in host-pathogen interactions.

Technical Abstract: Plant pathogenic bacteria encounter a drastic increase in apoplastic pH during the early stage of plant immunity. The effects of alkalization on pathogen-host interaction have not been comprehensively characterized. Here we used a global transcriptomic approach to assess the impact of environmental alkalization on Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato DC3000 in vitro. In addition to the Type 3 Secretion System (T3SS), we found other virulence factors such as iron uptake, coronatine biosynthesis and sigma factor AlgU to be strongly suppressed by environmental alkalization.