O antigen modulates insect vector acquisition of the bacterial plant pathogen Xylella fastidiosa.

ABSTRACT: Hemipteran insect vectors transmit the majority of plant pathogens. Acquisition of pathogenic bacteria by these piercing/sucking insects requires intimate associations between the bacterial cells and insect surfaces. Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) is the predominant macromolecule displayed on the cell surface of Gram-negative bacteria and thus mediates bacterial interactions with the environment and potential hosts. We hypothesized that bacterial cell surface properties mediated by LPS would be important in modulating vector-pathogen interactions required for acquisition of the bacterial plant pathogen Xylella fastidiosa, the causative agent of Pierce's disease of grapevines. Utilizing a mutant that produces truncated O antigen (the terminal portion of the LPS molecule), we present results that

SUBMITTER: Rapicavoli JN 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4651091 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature