Bacteria establish an aqueous living space in plants crucial for virulence

Xin, Xiu-Fang, Nomura, Kinya, Aung, Kyaw, Velásquez, Andre, Yao, Jian, Boutrot, Freddy, Chang, Jeff, Zipfel, Cyril and He, Sheng Yang (2016) Bacteria establish an aqueous living space in plants crucial for virulence. Nature, 539 (7630). 524–529. ISSN 0028-0836

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Abstract

High humidity has a strong influence on the development of numerous diseases affecting the above-ground parts of plants (the phyllosphere) in crop fields and natural ecosystems, but the molecular basis of this humidity effect is not understood. Previous studies have emphasized immune suppression as a key step in bacterial pathogenesis. Here we show that humidity-dependent, pathogen-driven establishment of an aqueous intercellular space (apoplast) is another important step in bacterial infection of the phyllosphere. Bacterial effectors, such as Pseudomonas syringae HopM1, induce establishment of the aqueous apoplast and are sufficient to transform non-pathogenic P. syringae strains into virulent pathogens in immunodeficient Arabidopsis thaliana under high humidity. Arabidopsis quadruple mutants simultaneously defective in a host target (AtMIN7) of HopM1 and in pattern-triggered immunity could not only be used to reconstitute the basic features of bacterial infection, but also exhibited humidity-dependent dyshomeostasis of the endophytic commensal bacterial community in the phyllosphere. These results highlight a new conceptual framework for understanding diverse phyllosphere–bacterial interactions.

Item Type: Article
Additional Information: Date of acceptance: 17/10/2016
Faculty \ School: Faculty of Science > School of Biological Sciences
Faculty of Science > The Sainsbury Laboratory
UEA Research Groups: Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Plant Sciences
Depositing User: Pure Connector
Date Deposited: 19 Oct 2016 09:00
Last Modified: 21 Oct 2022 07:32
URI: https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/60983
DOI: 10.1038/nature20166

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