Insight into biodiversity of the recently rearranged genus Dickeya

The genus Dickeya includes plant pathogenic bacteria attacking a wide range of crops and ornamentals as well as a few environmental isolates from water. Defined on the basis of six species in 2005, this genus now includes 12 recognized species. Despite the description of several new species in recent years, the diversity of the genus Dickeya is not yet fully explored. Many strains have been analyzed for species causing diseases on economically important crops, such as for the potato pathogens D. dianthicola and D. solani. In contrast, only a few strains have been characterized for species of environmental origin or isolated from plants in understudied countries. To gain insights in the Dickeya diversity, recent extensive analyzes were performed on environmental isolates and poorly characterized strains from old collections. Phylogenetic and phenotypic analyzes led to the reclassification of D. paradisiaca (containing strains from tropical or subtropical regions) in the new genus, Musicola, the identification of three water species D. aquatica, D. lacustris and D. undicola, the description of a new species D. poaceaphila including Australian strains isolated from grasses, and the characterization of the new species D. oryzae and D. parazeae, resulting from the subdivision of the species D. zeae. Traits distinguishing each new species were identified from genomic and phenotypic comparisons. The high heterogeneity observed in some species, notably for D. zeae, indicates that additional species still need to be defined. The objective of this study was to clarify the present taxonomy of the genus Dickeya and to reassign the correct species to several Dickeya strains isolated before the current classification

Analysis of the Plant bos1 Mutant Highlights Necrosis as an Efficient Defence Mechanism during D. dadantii/Arabidospis thaliana Interaction

Dickeya dadantii is a broad host range phytopathogenic bacterium provoking soft rot disease on many plants including Arabidopsis. We showed that, after D. dadantii infection, the expression of the Arabidopsis BOS1 gene was specifically induced by the production of the bacterial PelB/C pectinases able to degrade pectin. This prompted us to analyze the interaction between the bos1 mutant and D. dadantii. The phenotype of the infected bos1 mutant is complex. Indeed, maceration symptoms occurred more rapidly in the bos1 mutant than in the wild type parent but at a later stage of infection, a necrosis developed around the inoculation site that provoked a halt in the progression of the maceration. This necrosis became systemic and spread throughout the whole plant, a phenotype reminiscent of that observed in some lesion mimic mutants. In accordance with the progression of maceration symptoms, bacterial population began to grow more rapidly in the bos1 mutant than in the wild type plant but, when necrosis appeared in the bos1 mutant, a reduction in bacterial population was observed. From the plant side, this complex interaction between D. dadantii and its host includes an early plant defence response that comprises reactive oxygen species (ROS) production accompanied by the reinforcement of the plant cell wall by protein cross-linking. At later timepoints, another plant defence is raised by the death of the plant cells surrounding the inoculation site. This plant cell death appears to constitute an efficient defence mechanism induced by D. dadantii during Arabidopsis infection

The role of secretion systems and small molecules in soft-rot enterobacteriaceae pathogenicity

Soft-rot Enterobacteriaceae (SRE), which belong to the genera Pectobacterium and Dickeya, consist mainly of broad host-range pathogens that cause wilt, rot, and blackleg diseases on a wide range of plants. They are found in plants, insects, soil, and water in agricultural regions worldwide. SRE encode all six known protein secretion systems present in gram-negative bacteria, and these systems are involved in attacking host plants and competing bacteria. They also produce and detect multiple types of small molecules to coordinate pathogenesis, modify the plant environment, attack competing microbes, and perhaps to attract insect vectors. This review integrates new information about the role protein secretion and detection and production of ions and small molecules play in soft-rot pathogenicity

Analysis of the pectin-degrading enzymes secreted by three strains of Erwinia chrysanthemi

The protein content of culture supernatants of three Erwinia chrysanthemi strains, B374, 3937j and 3665, grown on different carbon sources was compared. After growth in presence of polygalacturonate, four new polypeptides, identified as pectinases, were synthesized. These induced proteins, and the pattern of pectase lyase induction, differed among the strains. The proteins present in the supernatants of some mutants known or suspected to be affected in pectinase production (secretion-defective mutants and mutants in the degradative pathway of galacturonate and ketodeoxygluconate) were also analysed.SCOPUS: NotDefined.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Etude de la transposition de gènes bactériens

Doctorat en Sciencesinfo:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublishe

Relationship between the pel genes of the pelADE cluster in Erwinia chrysanthemi strain B374

In this paper, we have used filter hybridization and nucleotide sequencing to analyse the relationship between the three genes of the pelADE cluster in the Erwinia chrysanthemi (Ech) strain B374. This cluster encodes for three of the five pectate lyase proteins that are involved in the maceration and soft-rotting of plant tissue, an important trait in Ech pathogenicity. Southern hybridization revealed homology between each of the three pel genes. A 3560 bp DNA fragment containing the pelE and pelD genes was sequenced. These two genes show extensive homology in the coding regions but only low homology in the 5' and 3' non-coding regions. However both genes exhibit sequences homologous to the Escherichia coli CAP-binding site consensus sequence upstream of the start codon and an inverted repeat sequence which may act as a rho-independent transcriptional terminator after the translational stop. The pel genes of Ech B374 were also compared with the already sequenced pel genes of EC16, another Ech strain.SCOPUS: ar.jFLWNAinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Induction of lateral root structure formation on petunia roots: a novel effect of GMI1000 Ralstonia solanacearum infection impaired in Hrp mutants

Ralstonia solanacearum is a soilborne plant pathogen that invades its host via roots. As in many gram-negative bacterial plant pathogens, the R. solanacearum Hrp type III secretion system is essential for interactions of the bacterium with plants; however, the related mechanisms involved in disease expression are largely unknown. In this work, we examined the effects of infection by R. solanacearum GMI1000 and Hrp mutants on the root system of petunia plants. Both the wild-type and mutant strains disturbed the petunia root architecture development by inhibiting lateral root elongation and provoking swelling of the root tips. In addition, GNI1000 but not the Hrp mutants induced the formation of new root lateral structures (RLS). This ability is shared by other, but not all, R. solanacearum strains tested. Like lateral roots, these new structures arise from divisions of pericycle founder cells which, nevertheless, exhibit an abnormal morphology. These RLS are efficient colonization sites allowing extensive bacterial multiplication. However, they are not required for the bacterial vascular invasion that leads to the systemic spread of the bacterium through the whole plant, indicating that, instead, they might play a role in the rhizosphere-related stages of the R. solanacearum life cycle

Chromosome transfer and R-prime formation by an RP4:mini-Mu derivative in Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhimurium, Klebsiella pneumoniae, and Proteus mirabilis

SCOPUS: ar.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Formation of F'TRP Plasmids in ESCHERICHIA COLI K12

From strains carrying two different F-prime factors, we recovered F' derivatives that acquired the trp chromosomal region. These F'trp plasmids can be isolated at a frequency of 10(-5) to 10(-6). They were characterized genetically by looking at the size of the trp segment they acquired and at the location of that segment in the parental F' plasmid. Results are discussed in relationship to possible transposition mechanisms