A Single Regulator Mediates Strategic Switching between Attachment/Spread and Growth/Virulence in the Plant Pathogen Ralstonia solanacearum.

ABSTRACT: The PhcA virulence regulator in the vascular wilt pathogen Ralstonia solanacearum responds to cell density via quorum sensing. To understand the timing of traits that enable R. solanacearum to establish itself inside host plants, we created a ΔphcA mutant that is genetically locked in a low-cell-density condition. Comparing levels of gene expression of wild-type R. solanacearum and the ΔphcA mutant during tomato colonization revealed that the PhcA transcriptome includes an impressive 620 genes (>2-fold differentially expressed; false-discovery rate [FDR], ≤0.005). Many core metabolic pathways and nutrient transporters were upregulated in the ΔphcA mutant, which grew faster than the wild-type strain in tomato xylem sap and on dozens of specific meta

SUBMITTER: Khokhani D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5615195 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature