Erwinia amylovora pyrC mutant causes fire blight despite pyrimidine auxotrophy

Research status and prospects of organic photocatalysts in algal inhibition and sterilization: a review

An increasing amount of sewage has been discharged into water bodies in the progression of industrialization and urbanization, causing serious water pollution. Meanwhile, the increase of nutrients in the water induces water eutrophication and rapid growth of algae. Photocatalysis is a common technique for algal inhibition and sterilization. To improve the utilization of visible light and the conversion efficiency of solar energy, more organic photocatalytic materials have been gradually developed. In addition to ultraviolet light, partial infrared light and visible light could also be used by organic photocatalysts compared with inorganic photocatalysts. Simultaneously, organic photocatalysts also exhibit favorable stability. Most organic photocatalysts can maintain a high degradation rate for algae and bacteria after several cycles. There are various organic semiconductors, mainly including small organic molecules, such as perylene diimide (PDI), porphyrin (TCPP), and new carbon materials (fullerene (C60), graphene (GO), and carbon nanotubes (CNT)), and large organic polymers, such as graphite phase carbon nitride (g-C3N4), polypyrrole (PPy), polythiophene (PTH), polyaniline (PANI), and polyimide (PI). In this review, the classification and synthesis methods of organic photocatalytic materials were elucidated. It was demonstrated that the full visible spectral response (400-750 nm) could be stimulated by modifying organic photocatalysts. Moreover, some problems were summarized based on the research status related to algae and bacteria, and corresponding suggestions were also provided for the development of organic photocatalytic materials.

Functional characterization of the adenine transporter EaAdeP from the fire blight pathogen Erwinia amylovora and its effect on disease establishment in apples and pears

Erwinia amylovora is the causal agent of fire blight, an economically important disease of apples and pears. As part of the infection process, Er. amylovora propagates on different plant tissues each with distinct nutrient environments. Here, the biochemical properties of the Er. amylovora adenine permease (EaAdeP) are investigated. Heterologous expression of EaAdeP in nucleobase transporter-deficient Escherichia coli strains, coupled with radiolabel uptake studies, revealed that EaAdeP is a high affinity adenine transporter with a Km of 0.43 ± 0.09 μM. Both Es. coli and Er. amylovora carrying extra copies of EaAdeP are sensitive to growth on the toxic analog 8-azaadenine. EaAdeP is expressed during immature pear fruit infection. Immature pear and apple fruit virulence assays reveal that an E. amylovora ΔadeP::Camr mutant is still able to cause disease symptoms, however, with growth at a lower level, indicating that external adenine is utilized in disease establishment.

The guanine-hypoxanthine permease GhxP of Erwinia amylovora facilitates the influx of the toxic guanine derivative 6-thioguanine

AIM

Erwinia amylovora is the causal agent of fire blight, a devastating disease of apples and pears. This study determines whether the E. amylovora guanine-hypoxanthine transporter (EaGhxP) is required for virulence and if it can import the E. amylovora produced toxic analogue 6-thioguanine (6TG) into cells.

METHODS AND RESULTS

Characterization of EaGhxP in guanine transport deficient Escherichia coli reveals that it can transport guanine, hypoxanthine and the toxic analogues 8-azaguanine (8AG) and 6TG. Similarly, EaGhxP transports 8AG and 6TG into E. amylovora cells. EaGhxP has a high affinity for 6TG with a K_i of 3·7 µmol l^-1 . An E. amylovora ⊿ghxP::Cam^r strain shows resistance to growth on 8AG and 6TG. Although EaGhxP is expressed during active disease propagation, it is not necessary for virulence as determined on immature apple and pear assays.

CONCLUSIONS

EaGhxP is not required for virulence, but it does import 6TG into E. amylovora cells.

SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY

As part of the disease establishment process, E. amylovora synthesizes and exports a toxic guanine derivative 6TG. Our results are counter intuitive and show that EaGhxP, an influx transporter, can move 6TG into cells raising questions regarding the role of 6TG in disease establishment.

An Erwinia amylovora uracil transporter mutant retains virulence on immature apple and pear fruit

Erwinia amylovora is the causal agent of fire blight, a devastating disease of apples and pears. A previous study revealed that an E. amylovora uracil auxotroph was still virulent and can cause disease, suggesting that uracil can be obtained from the host environment. The E. amylovora genome contains a locus encoding for a uracil transporter belonging to the nucleobase cation symporter 2 family, displaying a high level of amino acid sequence similarity to the Escherichia coli UraA. Expression of E. amylovora UraA in nucleobase transporter-deficient E. coli strains, coupled with radiolabeled uptake studies reveal that E. amylovora UraA is a high affinity uracil transporter with a K_m of 0.57 μM. Both E. coli and E. amylovora carrying extra copies of E. amylovora UraA are sensitive to growth on the toxic analog 5-fluorouracil. An E. amylovora ΔuraA::Cam^r mutant is still able to grow and cause disease symptoms on immature pears and apples.

Erwinia amylovora Auxotrophic Mutant Exometabolomics and Virulence on Apples

The Gram-negative bacterium Erwinia amylovora causes fire blight disease of apples and pears. While the virulence systems of E. amylovora have been studied extensively, relatively little is known about its parasitic behavior. The aim of this study was to identify primary metabolites that must be synthesized by this pathogen for full virulence. A series of auxotrophic E. amylovora mutants, representing 21 metabolic pathways, were isolated and characterized for metabolic defects and virulence in apple immature fruits and shoots. On detached apple fruitlets, mutants defective in arginine, guanine, hexosamine, isoleucine/valine, leucine, lysine, proline, purine, pyrimidine, sorbitol, threonine, tryptophan, and glucose metabolism had reduced virulence compared to the wild type, while mutants defective in asparagine, cysteine, glutamic acid, histidine, and serine biosynthesis were as virulent as the wild type. Auxotrophic mutant growth in apple fruitlet medium had a modest positive correlation with virulence in apple fruitlet tissues. Apple tree shoot inoculations with a representative subset of auxotrophs confirmed the apple fruitlet results. Compared to the wild type, auxotrophs defective in virulence caused an attenuated hypersensitive immune response in tobacco, with the exception of an arginine auxotroph. Metabolomic footprint analyses revealed that auxotrophic mutants which grew poorly in fruitlet medium nevertheless depleted environmental resources. Pretreatment of apple flowers with an arginine auxotroph inhibited the growth of the wild-type E. amylovora, while heat-killed auxotroph cells did not exhibit this effect, suggesting nutritional competition with the virulent strain on flowers. The results of our study suggest that certain nonpathogenic E. amylovora auxotrophs could have utility as fire blight biocontrol agents.IMPORTANCE This study has revealed the availability of a range of host metabolites to E. amylovora cells growing in apple tissues and has examined whether these metabolites are available in sufficient quantities to render bacterial de novo synthesis of these metabolites partially or even completely dispensable for disease development. The metabolomics analysis revealed that auxotrophic E. amylovora mutants have substantial impact on their environment in culture, including those that fail to grow appreciably. The reduced growth of virulent E. amylovora on flowers treated with an arginine auxotroph is consistent with the mutant competing for limiting resources in the flower environment. This information could be useful for novel fire blight management tool development, including the application of nonpathogenic E. amylovora auxotrophs to host flowers as an environmentally friendly biocontrol method. Fire blight management options are currently limited mainly to antibiotic sprays onto open blossoms and pruning of infected branches, so novel management options would be attractive to growers.

Malus Hosts-Erwinia amylovora Interactions: Strain Pathogenicity and Resistance Mechanisms

The bacterium, Erwinia amylovora, deposits effector proteins such as AvrRpt2_EA into hosts through the type III secretion pathogenicity island to cause fire blight in susceptible Malus genotypes. A single nucleotide polymorphism in the AvrRpt2_EA effector plays a key role in pathogen virulence on Malus hosts by exchanging one cysteine to serine in the effector protein sequence. Fire blight resistance quantitative trait loci (QTLs) were detected in a few apple cultivars and wild Malus genotypes with the resistance of wild apples generally found to be stronger than their domestic relatives. The only candidate and functionally analyzed fire blight resistance genes proposed are from wild apple genotypes. Nevertheless, the aforementioned AvrRpt2_EA SNP and a couple of effector mutants of E. amylovora are responsible for the breakdown of resistance from a few Malus donors including detected QTLs and underlying R-genes. This review summarizes a key finding related to the molecular basis underpinning an aspect of virulence of E. amylovora on Malus genotypes, as well as mechanisms of host recognition and specificity, and their implications on the results of genetic mapping and phenotypic studies within the last 5-6 years. Although the knowledge gained has improved our understanding of the Malus-E. amylovora system, more research is required to fully grasp the resistance mechanisms in this genus especially as they pertain to direct interactions with pathogen effectors.

Disruption of the carA gene in Pseudomonas syringae results in reduced fitness and alters motility

Background

Pseudomonas syringae infects diverse plant species and is widely used in the study of effector function and the molecular basis of disease. Although the relationship between bacterial metabolism, nutrient acquisition and virulence has attracted increasing attention in bacterial pathology, there is limited knowledge regarding these studies in Pseudomonas syringae. The aim of this study was to investigate the function of the carA gene and the small RNA P32, and characterize the regulation of these transcripts.

Results

Disruption of the carA gene (ΔcarA) which encodes the predicted small chain of carbamoylphosphate synthetase, resulted in arginine and pyrimidine auxotrophy in Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato DC3000. Complementation with the wild type carA gene was able to restore growth to wild-type levels in minimal medium. Deletion of the small RNA P32, which resides immediately upstream of carA, did not result in arginine or pyrimidine auxotrophy. The expression of carA was influenced by the concentrations of both arginine and uracil in the medium. When tested for pathogenicity, ΔcarA showed reduced fitness in tomato as well as Arabidopsis when compared to the wild-type strain. In contrast, mutation of the region encoding P32 had minimal effect in planta. ΔcarA also exhibited reduced motility and increased biofilm formation, whereas disruption of P32 had no impact on motility or biofilm formation.

Conclusions

Our data show that carA plays an important role in providing arginine and uracil for growth of the bacteria and also influences other factors that are potentially important for growth and survival during infection. Although we find that the small RNA P32 and carA are co-transcribed, P32 does not play a role in the phenotypes that carA is required for, such as motility, cell attachment, and virulence. Additionally, our data suggests that pyrimidines may be limited in the apoplastic space of the plant host tomato.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12866-016-0819-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.