Correction: A «Repertoire for Repertoire» Hypothesis: Repertoires of Type Three Effectors are Candidate Determinants of Host Specificity in Xanthomonas
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PROVIDER: S-EPMC2763904 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Jan
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:BackgroundThe genetic basis of host specificity for animal and plant pathogenic bacteria remains poorly understood. For plant pathogenic bacteria, host range is restricted to one or a few host plant species reflecting a tight adaptation to specific hosts.Methodology/principal findingsTwo hypotheses can be formulated to explain host specificity: either it can be explained by the phylogenetic position of the strains, or by the association of virulence genes enabling a pathological convergence of phylogenically distant strains. In this latter hypothesis, host specificity would result from the interaction between repertoires of bacterial virulence genes and repertoires of genes involved in host defences. To challenge these two hypotheses, we selected 132 Xanthomonas axonopodis strains representative of 18 different pathovars which display different host range. First, the phylogenetic position of each strain was determined by sequencing the housekeeping gene rpoD. This study showed that many pathovars of Xanthomonas axonopodis are polyphyletic. Second, we investigated the distribution of 35 type III effector genes (T3Es) in these strains by both PCR and hybridization methods. Indeed, for pathogenic bacteria T3Es were shown to trigger and to subvert host defences. Our study revealed that T3E repertoires comprise core and variable gene suites that likely have distinct roles in pathogenicity and different evolutionary histories. Our results showed a correspondence between composition of T3E repertoires and pathovars of Xanthomonas axonopodis. For polyphyletic pathovars, this suggests that T3E genes might explain a pathological convergence of phylogenetically distant strains. We also identified several DNA rearrangements within T3E genes, some of which correlate with host specificity of strains.Conclusions/significanceThese data provide insight into the potential role played by T3E genes for pathogenic bacteria and support a "repertoire for repertoire" hypothesis that may explain host specificity. Our work provides resources for functional and evolutionary studies aiming at understanding host specificity of pathogenic bacteria, functional redundancy between T3Es and the driving forces shaping T3E repertoires.
| S-EPMC2722093 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Bacterial spot disease of pepper and tomato is caused by four distinct Xanthomonas species and is a severely limiting factor on fruit yield in these crops. The genetic diversity and the type III effector repertoires of a large sampling of field strains for this disease have yet to be explored on a genomic scale, limiting our understanding of pathogen evolution in an agricultural setting. Genomes of 67 Xanthomonas euvesicatoria (Xe), Xanthomonas perforans (Xp), and Xanthomonas gardneri (Xg) strains isolated from diseased pepper and tomato fields in the southeastern and midwestern United States were sequenced in order to determine the genetic diversity in field strains. Type III effector repertoires were computationally predicted for each strain, and multiple methods of constructing phylogenies were employed to understand better the genetic relationship of strains in the collection. A division in the Xp population was detected based on core genome phylogeny, supporting a model whereby the host-range expansion of Xp field strains on pepper is due, in part, to a loss of the effector AvrBsT. Xp-host compatibility was further studied with the observation that a double deletion of AvrBsT and XopQ allows a host range expansion for Nicotiana benthamiana. Extensive sampling of field strains and an improved understanding of effector content will aid in efforts to design disease resistance strategies targeted against highly conserved core effectors.
| S-EPMC4452888 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Xanthomonas is a large genus of plant-associated and plant-pathogenic bacteria. Collectively, members cause diseases on over 392 plant species. Individually, they exhibit marked host- and tissue-specificity. The determinants of this specificity are unknown.To assess potential contributions to host- and tissue-specificity, pathogenesis-associated gene clusters were compared across genomes of eight Xanthomonas strains representing vascular or non-vascular pathogens of rice, brassicas, pepper and tomato, and citrus. The gum cluster for extracellular polysaccharide is conserved except for gumN and sequences downstream. The xcs and xps clusters for type II secretion are conserved, except in the rice pathogens, in which xcs is missing. In the otherwise conserved hrp cluster, sequences flanking the core genes for type III secretion vary with respect to insertion sequence element and putative effector gene content. Variation at the rpf (regulation of pathogenicity factors) cluster is more pronounced, though genes with established functional relevance are conserved. A cluster for synthesis of lipopolysaccharide varies highly, suggesting multiple horizontal gene transfers and reassortments, but this variation does not correlate with host- or tissue-specificity. Phylogenetic trees based on amino acid alignments of gum, xps, xcs, hrp, and rpf cluster products generally reflect strain phylogeny. However, amino acid residues at four positions correlate with tissue specificity, revealing hpaA and xpsD as candidate determinants. Examination of genome sequences of xanthomonads Xylella fastidiosa and Stenotrophomonas maltophilia revealed that the hrp, gum, and xcs clusters are recent acquisitions in the Xanthomonas lineage.Our results provide insight into the ancestral Xanthomonas genome and indicate that differentiation with respect to host- and tissue-specificity involved not major modifications or wholesale exchange of clusters, but subtle changes in a small number of genes or in non-coding sequences, and/or differences outside the clusters, potentially among regulatory targets or secretory substrates.
| S-EPMC2585010 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Xylella fastidiosa causes diseases in many plant species. Originally confined to the Americas, infecting mainly grapevine, citrus, and coffee, X. fastidiosa has spread to several plant species in Europe causing devastating diseases. Many pathogenicity and virulence factors have been identified, which enable the various X. fastidiosa strains to successfully colonize the xylem tissue and cause disease in specific plant hosts, but the mechanisms by which this happens have not been fully elucidated. Here we present thorough comparative analyses of 94 whole-genome sequences of X. fastidiosa strains from diverse plant hosts and geographic regions. Core-genome phylogeny revealed clades with members sharing mostly a geographic region rather than a host plant of origin. Phylogenetic trees for 1605 orthologous CDSs were explored for potential candidates related to host specificity using a score of mapping metrics. However, no candidate host-specificity determinants were strongly supported using this approach. We also show that X. fastidiosa accessory genome is represented by an abundant and heterogeneous mobilome, including a diversity of prophage regions. Our findings provide a better understanding of the diversity of phylogenetically close genomes and expand the knowledge of X. fastidiosa mobile genetic elements and immunity systems.
| S-EPMC9148166 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. manihotis (Xam) employs transcription activator-like (TAL) effectors to promote bacterial growth and symptom formation during infection of cassava. TAL effectors are secreted via the bacterial type III secretion system into plant cells, where they are directed to the nucleus, bind DNA in plant promoters and activate the expression of downstream genes. The DNA-binding activity of TAL effectors is carried out by a central domain which contains a series of repeat variable diresidues (RVDs) that dictate the sequence of bound nucleotides. TAL14Xam668 promotes virulence in Xam strain Xam668 and has been shown to activate multiple cassava genes. In this study, we used RNA sequencing to identify the full target repertoire of TAL14Xam668 in cassava, which includes over 50 genes. A subset of highly up-regulated genes was tested for activation by TAL14CIO151 from Xam strain CIO151. Although TAL14CIO151 and TAL14Xam668 differ by only a single RVD, they display differential activation of gene targets. TAL14CIO151 complements the TAL14Xam668 mutant defect, implying that shared target genes are important for TAL14Xam668 -mediated disease susceptibility. Complementation with closely related TAL effectors is a novel approach to the narrowing down of biologically relevant susceptibility genes of TAL effectors with multiple targets. This study provides an example of how TAL effector target activation by two strains within a single species of Xanthomonas can be dramatically affected by a small change in RVD-nucleotide affinity at a single site, and reflects the parameters of RVD-nucleotide interaction determined using designer TAL effectors in transient systems.
| S-EPMC6638523 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Transcription activator-like effectors (TALEs) are virulence factors of Xanthomonas that induce the expression of host susceptibility (S) genes by specifically binding to effector binding elements (EBEs) in their promoter regions. The DNA binding specificity of TALEs is dictated by their tandem repeat regions, which are highly variable between different TALEs. Mutation of the EBEs of S genes is being utilized as a key strategy to generate resistant crops against TALE-dependent pathogens. However, TALE adaptations through rearrangement of their repeat regions is a potential obstacle for successful implementation of this strategy. We investigated the consequences of TALE adaptations in the citrus pathogen Xanthomonas citri subsp. citri (Xcc), in which PthA4 is the TALE required for pathogenicity, whereas CsLOB1 is the corresponding susceptibility gene, on host resistance. Seven TALEs, containing two-to-nine mismatching-repeats to the EBEPthA4 that were unable to induce CsLOB1 expression, were introduced into Xcc pthA4:Tn5 and adaptation was simulated by repeated inoculations into and isolations from sweet orange for a duration of 30 cycles. While initially all strains failed to promote disease, symptoms started to appear between 9-28 passages in four TALEs, which originally harbored two-to-five mismatches. Sequence analysis of adapted TALEs identified deletions and mutations within the TALE repeat regions which enhanced putative affinity to the CsLOB1 promoter. Sequence analyses suggest that TALEs adaptations result from recombinations between repeats of the TALEs. Reintroduction of these adapted TALEs into Xcc pthA4:Tn5 restored the ability to induce the expression of CsLOB1, promote disease symptoms and colonize host plants. TALEs harboring seven-to-nine mismatches were unable to adapt to overcome the incompatible interaction. Our study experimentally documented TALE adaptations to incompatible EBE and provided strategic guidance for generation of disease resistant crops against TALE-dependent pathogens.
| S-EPMC7845958 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The identification of bacterial effectors is essential to understand how obligatory intracellular bacteria such as Ehrlichia spp. manipulate the host cell for survival and replication. Infection of mammals-including humans-by the intracellular pathogenic bacteria Ehrlichia spp. depends largely on the injection of virulence proteins that hijack host cell processes. Several hypothetical virulence proteins have been identified in Ehrlichia spp., but one so far has been experimentally shown to translocate into host cells via the type IV secretion system. However, the current challenge is to identify most of the type IV effectors (T4Es) to fully understand their role in Ehrlichia spp. virulence and host adaptation. Here, we predict the T4E repertoires of four sequenced Ehrlichia spp. and four other Anaplasmataceae as comparative models (pathogenic Anaplasma spp. and Wolbachia endosymbiont) using previously developed S4TE 2.0 software. This analysis identified 579 predicted T4Es (228 pT4Es for Ehrlichia spp. only). The effector repertoires of Ehrlichia spp. overlapped, thereby defining a conserved core effectome of 92 predicted effectors shared by all strains. In addition, 69 species-specific T4Es were predicted with non-canonical GC% mostly in gene sparse regions of the genomes and we observed a bias in pT4Es according to host-specificity. We also identified new protein domain combinations, suggesting novel effector functions. This work presenting the predicted effector collection of Ehrlichia spp. can serve as a guide for future functional characterisation of effectors and design of alternative control strategies against these bacteria.
| S-EPMC8274917 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Transcription Activators-Like Effectors (TALEs) belong to a family of virulence proteins from the Xanthomonas genus of bacterial plant pathogens that are translocated into the plant cell. In the nucleus, TALEs act as transcription factors inducing the expression of susceptibility genes. A code for TALE-DNA binding specificity and high-resolution three-dimensional structures of TALE-DNA complexes were recently reported. Accurate prediction of TAL Effector Binding Elements (EBEs) is essential to elucidate the biological functions of the many sequenced TALEs as well as for robust design of artificial TALE DNA-binding domains in biotechnological applications. In this work a program with improved EBE prediction performances was developed using an updated specificity matrix and a position weight correction function to account for the matching pattern observed in a validation set of TALE-DNA interactions. To gain a systems perspective on the large TALE repertoires from X. oryzae strains, this program was used to predict rice gene targets for 99 sequenced family members. Integrating predictions and available expression data in a TALE-gene network revealed multiple candidate transcriptional targets for many TALEs as well as several possible instances of functional convergence among TALEs.
| S-EPMC3711819 | biostudies-literature
Project description:We provide the first conclusive evidence that Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. citri Asiatic strain (Xac-A) and, in particular, Xac-A(w), a unique citrus canker A strain isolated from Key lime in Wellington, Florida, induces a hypersensitive reaction (HR) in grapefruit leaves. Using the heterologous tomato pathogen X. perforans, as a recipient of the Xac-A(w) genomic library, we identified a 1599-bp open reading frame responsible for HR in grapefruit, but not Key lime, and designated it avrGf1. Xac-A(w)DeltaavrGf1 produced typical, although visibly reduced, citrus canker symptoms (i.e. raised pustules) in grapefruit and typical canker symptoms in Key lime. We also determined that the X. perforans transconjugant carrying an Xac-A(w) hrpG elicited HR in grapefruit and Key lime leaves, and that xopA in X. perforans was partly responsible for HR. Xac-A transconjugants carrying the X. perforans xopA were reduced in ability to grow in grapefruit leaves relative to wild-type Xac-A. The X. perforans xopA appears to be a host-limiting factor. An avrBs3 homologue, which contained 18.5 repeats and induced HR in tomato, was designated avrTaw. This gene, when expressed in a pustule-minus Xac-A(w), did not complement pustule formation; however, pthA(w), a functional pthA homologue, complemented the mutant strain to produce typical pustules in Key lime, but markedly reduced pustules in grapefruit. Both avrBs3 homologues, when expressed in a typical Xac-A strain, resulted in typical citrus canker pustules in grapefruit, indicating that neither homologue suppressed pustule size in grapefruit. Xac-A(w) contains other unidentified factors that suppress development in grapefruit.
| S-EPMC6640320 | biostudies-literature
Project description:A review of type III effectors (T3 effectors) from strains of Xanthomonas reveals a growing list of candidate and known effectors based on functional assays and sequence and structural similarity searches of genomic data. We propose that the effectors and suspected effectors should be distributed into 39 so-called Xop groups reflecting sequence similarity. Some groups have structural motifs for putative enzymatic functions, and recent studies have provided considerable insight into the interaction with host factors in their function as mediators of virulence and elicitors of resistance for a few specific T3 effectors. Many groups are related to T3 effectors of plant and animal pathogenic bacteria, and several groups appear to have been exploited primarily by Xanthomonas species based on available data. At the same time, a relatively large number of candidate effectors remain to be examined in more detail with regard to their function within host cells.
| S-EPMC6640274 | biostudies-literature