Expression of Ralstonia solanacearum type III secretion system is dependent on a novel type 4 pili (T4P) assembly protein (TapV) but is T4P independent.

ABSTRACT: Type IV pili (T4P) are virulence factors in various pathogenic bacteria of animals and plants that play important roles in twitching motility, swimming motility, biofilm formation, and adhesion to host cells. Here, we genetically characterized functional roles of a putative T4P assembly protein TapV (Rsc1986 in reference strain GMI1000) and its homologue Rsp0189, which shares 58% amino acid identity with TapV, in Ralstonia solanacearum. Deletion of tapV, but not rsp0189, resulted in significantly impaired twitching motility, swimming motility, and adhesion to tomato roots, which are consistent as phenotypes of the pilA mutant (a known R. solanacearum T4P-deficient mutant). However, unlike the pilA mutant, the tapV mutant produced more biofilm than the wild-type strain. Our gene expression

SUBMITTER: Zhang Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7214476 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature