A Nitrate-Sensing Domain-Containing Chemoreceptor Is Required for Successful Entry and Virulence of Dickeya dadantii 3937 in Potato Plants

Nitrate metabolism plays an important role in bacterial physiology. During the interaction of plant-pathogenic bacteria with their hosts, bacteria face variable conditions with respect to nitrate availability. Perception mechanisms through the chemosensory pathway drive the entry and control the colonization of the plant host in phytopathogenic bacteria. In this work, the identification and characterization of the nitrate- and nitrite-sensing (NIT) domain-containing chemoreceptor of Dickeya dadantii 3937 (Dd3937) allowed us to unveil the key role of nitrate sensing not only for the entry into the plant apoplast through wounds but also for infection success. We determined the specificity of this chemoreceptor to bind nitrate and nitrite, with a slight ligand preference for nitrate. Gene expression analysis showed that nitrate perception controls not only the expression of nitrate reductase genes involved in respiratory and assimilatory metabolic processes but also the expression of gyrA, hrpN, and bgxA, three well-known virulence determinants in Dd3937.

The Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato DC3000 PSPTO_0820 multidrug transporter is involved in resistance to plant antimicrobials and bacterial survival during tomato plant infection

Multidrug resistance efflux pumps protect bacterial cells against a wide spectrum of antimicrobial compounds. PSPTO_0820 is a predicted multidrug transporter from the phytopathogenic bacterium Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato DC3000. Orthologs of this protein are conserved within many Pseudomonas species that interact with plants. To study the potential role of PSPTO_0820 in plant-bacteria interaction, a mutant in this gene was isolated and characterized. In addition, with the aim to find the outer membrane channel for this efflux system, a mutant in PSPTO_4977, a TolC-like gene, was also analyzed. Both mutants were more susceptible to trans-cinnamic and chlorogenic acids and to the flavonoid (+)-catechin, when added to the culture medium. The expression level of both genes increased in the presence of (+)-catechin and, in the case of PSPTO_0820, also in response to trans-cinnamic acid. PSPTO_0820 and PSPTO_4977 mutants were unable to colonize tomato at high population levels. This work evidences the involvement of these two proteins in the resistance to plant antimicrobials, supporting also the importance of chlorogenic acid, trans-cinnamic acid, and (+)-catechin in the tomato plant defense response against P. syringae pv. tomato DC3000 infection.

Light regulates motility, attachment and virulence in the plant pathogen Pseudomonas syringae pv tomato DC3000

Pseudomonas syringae pv tomato DC3000 (Pto) is the causal agent of the bacterial speck of tomato, which leads to significant economic losses in this crop. Pto inhabits the tomato phyllosphere, where the pathogen is highly exposed to light, among other environmental factors. Light represents a stressful condition and acts as a source of information associated with different plant defence levels. Here, we analysed the presence of both blue and red light photoreceptors in a group of Pseudomonas. In addition, we studied the effect of white, blue and red light on Pto features related to epiphytic fitness. While white and blue light inhibit motility, bacterial attachment to plant leaves is promoted. Moreover, these phenotypes are altered in a blue-light receptor mutant. These light-controlled changes during the epiphytic stage cause a reduction in virulence, highlighting the relevance of motility during the entry process to the plant apoplast. This study demonstrated the key role of light perception in the Pto phenotype switching and its effect on virulence.

Physiological and transcriptomic characterization of a fliA mutant of Pseudomonas putida KT2440

Pseudomonas putida KT2440 encodes 23 alternative sigma factors. The fliA gene, which encodes σ(28) , is in a cluster with other genes involved in flagella biosynthesis and chemotaxis. Reverse transcriptase-PCR revealed that this cluster is comprised of four independent transcriptional units: flhAF, fleNfliA, cheYZA and cheBmotAB. We generated a nonpolar fliA mutant by homologous recombination and tested its motility, adhesion to biotic and abiotic surfaces, and responses to various stress conditions. The mutant strain was nonmotile and exhibited decreased capacity to bind to corn seeds, although its ability to colonize the rhizosphere of plants was unaffected. The mutant was also affected in binding to abiotic surfaces and its ability to form biofilms decreased by almost threefold. In the fliA mutant background expression of 25 genes was affected: two genes were upregulated and 23 genes were downregulated. In addition to a number of motility and chemotaxis genes, the fliA gene product is also necessary for the expression of some genes potentially involved in amino acid utilization or stress responses; however, we were unable to assign specific phenotypes linked to these genes since the fliA mutant used the same range of amino acids as the parental strain, and was as tolerant as the wild type to stress imposed by heat, antibiotics, NaCl, sodium dodecyl sulfate, H2 O2 and benzoate. Based on the sequence alignment of promoters recognized by FliA and genome in silico analysis, we propose that P. putidaσ(28) recognizes a TCAAG-t-N12 -GCCGATA consensus sequence located between -34 and -8 and that this sequence is preferentially associated with an AT-rich upstream region.

A WbpL mutant of Pseudomonas putida DOT-T1E strain, which lacks the O-antigenic side chain of lipopolysaccharides, is tolerant to organic solvent shocks

Lipopolysaccharides (LPS) are major components of the outer membrane of gram-negative bacteria and are considered a defense barrier. To determine if LPS play a role in resistance to solvents in the solvent-tolerant Pseudomonas putida DOT-T1E strain, we have generated mutants unable to synthesize the O-antigen side chain of LPS. The wbpL gene, encoding the enzyme that begins the synthesis of the O-antigen side chain of LPS of the solvent-tolerant strain, was cloned, sequenced, and knocked out in vitro with a cassette encoding kanamycin resistance, and a mutant called WbpL0 of the DOT-T1E strain was generated in vivo by site-directed mutagenesis. The WbpL mutant was compared with the wild-type strain with regard to tolerance to a number of toxic compounds, including chelating agents, organic acids, detergents, and aromatic hydrocarbons. It was found that the mutant was as tolerant as the wild-type strain to organic acids and aromatic hydrocarbons and more sensitive to ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid and deoxycholate.

Mutations in each of the tol genes of Pseudomonas putida reveal that they are critical for maintenance of outer membrane stability

The outer membrane of gram-negative bacteria functions as a permeability barrier that protects cells against a large number of antibacterial agents. OprL protein of Pseudomonas putida has been shown to be crucial to maintain the stability of this cell component (J. J. Rodríguez-Herva, M.-I. Ramos-González, and J. L. Ramos. J. Bacteriol. 178:1699-1706, 1996). In the present study we cloned and mutagenized the orf1, tolQ, tolR, tolA, and tolB genes from P. putida KT2440, which were located upstream of the oprL gene. Polar and nonpolar mutations of the P. putida tolQ, tolR, tolA, and tolB genes were generated in vitro by using the omega-Km(r) interposon, which carries two transcriptional stop signals, or a promoterless xylE cassette, lacking any transcriptional stop signal, respectively. The mutant constructs were used to inactivate, by reverse genetics procedures, the corresponding chromosomal copies of the genes. The phenotype of each mutant strain was analyzed and compared with those of the wild-type strain and the previously characterized P. putida oprL::xylE mutant. All mutant strains exhibited a similar phenotype: altered cell morphology, bleb formation at the cell surface, release of periplasmic and outer membrane proteins to the extracellular medium, increased sensitivity to a variety of compounds (i.e., EDTA, sodium dodecyl sulfate, deoxycholate, and some antibiotics), filament formation, and severely reduced cell motility. Altogether, these results demonstrate the importance of the Tol-OprL system for the maintenance of outer membrane integrity in P. putida and suggest a possible role of these proteins in assembling outer membrane components.

Cell envelope mutants of Pseudomonas putida: physiological characterization and analysis of their ability to survive in soil

To generate mutants with altered lipopolysaccharides (LPS) of the wild-type Pseudomonas putida KT2442, we used the mini-Tn5luxAB-Km transposon. A mutant was found among luminescent colonies and selected as a negative clone in enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) with monoclonal antibody (mAb) 7.3B, which recognizes the O-antigen of P. putida LPS. The DNA region of the LPS mutant interrupted by the minitransposon insertion was cloned and sequenced. Comparison of the deduced amino acid sequence with protein sequence databases showed similarity to the O-antigen polymerase (Wzy) of Salmonella enterica (muenchen). The wild-type gene was rescued by polymerase chain reaction (PCR), cloned into a broad-host-range plasmid and used to carry out complementation assays. The cloned gene was able to restore the wild-type phenotype of the P. putida wzy mutant. We constructed an isogenic mutant of the luminescent wzy mutant to which an oprL mutation was transferred by homologous recombination with an oprL::xylE cassette. The wzy mutants of P. putida were more sensitive to SDS, deoxycholate and EDTA than the corresponding parental strains. We analysed the ability of wzy, oprL and wzy oprL mutants of P. putida to colonize soil. In comparison with the wild-type strain, the ability of single mutants to colonize soil decreased; this characteristic was more evident for the double mutant, especially at high temperatures.

Mechanisms for solvent tolerance in bacteria

The development of tolerance in Pseudomonas putida DOT-T1 to toluene and related highly toxic compounds involves short- and long-term responses. The short-term response is based on an increase in the rigidity of the cell membrane by rapid transformation of the fatty acid cis-9,10-methylene hexadecanoic acid (C17:cyclopropane) to unsaturated 9-cis-hexadecenoic acid (C16:1,9 cis) and subsequent transformation to the trans isomer. The long-term response involves in addition to the changes in fatty acids, alterations in the level of the phospholipid polar head groups: cardiolipin increases and phosphatidylethanolamine decreases. The two alterations lead to increased cell membrane rigidity and should be regarded as physical mechanisms that prevent solvent penetrance. Biochemical mechanisms that decrease the concentration of toluene in the cell membrane also take place and involve: (i) a solvent exclusion system and (ii) metabolic removal of toluene via oxidation. Mutants unable to carry out cis --> trans isomerization of unsaturated lipids, that exhibit altered cell envelopes because of the lack of the OprL protein, or that are unable to exclude toluene from cell membranes are hypersensitive to toluene.

Characterization of an OprL null mutant of Pseudomonas putida

A Pseudomonas putida oprL null mutant was generated with reverse genetics by using an in vitro-truncated oprL::xylE construct and in vivo allelic exchange. The nature of the mutation introduced in P. putida was confirmed by Southern blotting. Western blots (immunoblots) of peptidoglycan-associated proteins revealed that the OprL protein was not made in the mutant strain, whereas it was detectable as a 19-kDa band in protein preparations of the wild-type strain. The P. putida oprL, mutant exhibited altered cell morphology as revealed by electron microscopy and was more sensitive to sodium dodecyl sulfate, deoxycholate, and EDTA than the wild-type strain. The oprL gene was conserved in a wide variety of the Pseudomonas strains belonging to rRNA group I, which suggests that this gene is important for the maintenance of the cell envelope and cell morphology in this group of microorganisms.

The Pseudomonas putida peptidoglycan-associated outer membrane lipoprotein is involved in maintenance of the integrity of the cell cell envelope

Pseudomonas putida 14G-3, a derivative of the natural soil inhabitant P. putida KT2440, exhibited a chromosomal insertion of a mini-Tn5/'phoA transposon that resulted in reduced ability to colonize soil. In vitro characterization of P. putida 14G-3 revealed that it exhibited an altered cell morphology and envelope, as revealed by electron microscopy. The derived strain was sensitive to sodium dodecyl sulfate, deoxycholate, and EDTA, produced clumps when it reached high cell densities in the late logarithmic growth phase, and did not grow on low-osmolarity medium. The P. putida DNA surrounding the mini-Tn5/'phoA insertion was cloned and used as a probe to rescue the wild-type gene, which was sequenced. Comparison of the deduced peptide sequence with sequences in the Swiss-Prot database allowed the knocked-out gene to be identified as that encoding the peptidoglycan-associated lipoprotein (Pal or OprL) of P. putida. The protein was identified in coupled transcription and translation assays in vitro.