Project description:The choice between cell death (lysis) and viral dormancy (lysogeny) following bacteriophage infection serves as a founding paradigm for the emergence of cellular heterogeneity in a genetically uniform population. The determination of host fate arises through the stochastic transcription from multiple viral genomes present within each cell, but this activity remains hidden from empirical interrogation, which typically stops at the whole-cell level. Here we use parallel sequential fluorescence in situ hybridization (par-seqFISH), followed by spatial clustering of phage-encoded transcripts within each cell, to profile the transcriptional activity of individual phages during synchronized infection of Escherichia coli (E. coli) by bacteriophage lambda. At the whole-cell level, transcription kinetics capture the developmental choice between lysis and lysogeny, and further demonstrate that viral replication is required for the emergence of diverging fate decisions. Zooming in to the single-phage level illuminates an individuality of viral activity during infection. We find that, while cells pursuing lysogeny display consensus activity of all in-habiting phages, lytic cells may contain phages that exhibit lysogenic activity. These findings support an earlier suggestion that consensus among coinfecting phages is required for cell dormancy. More broadly, our results highlight the need to identify how whole-cell behavior emerges from the activity of physically distinct copies of the same genetic circuit.
Project description:To compare the early transcriptional changes that occur in sweet orange leaves in response to Xanthomonas citri versus Xanthomonas aurantifolii pathotype C infection, plant leaves infiltrated with each bacterial pathogen were examined by RNAseq.
Project description:ϕXacN1 is a novel jumbo myovirus infecting the causative agent of Asian citrus canker, Xanthomonas citri. Its linear 384,670 bp double-stranded DNA genome encodes 592 predicted protein coding genes and shows 65,875 bp direct terminal repeats (DTRs), so far the longest DTRs among sequence phage genomes. The DTRs harbor 56 tRNA genes, corresponding to all 20 amino acids. This is the highest number of tRNA genes reported in a phage genome. Codon usage analyses revealed a propensity that the phage encoded tRNAs target codons that are highly used by the phage but less frequently by its host. The existence of these tRNA genes, additional seven translation-related genes as well as a chaperonin gene found in the ϕXacN1 genome suggests an increased level of independence of phage replication on host molecular machinery and a wide host range. Consistently, ϕXacN1 showed a wider host range than other X. citri phages in an infection test against a panel of X. citri strains. Phylogenetic analyses revealed a clade of phages composed of ϕXacN1 and ten other jumbo phages showing an evolutionary stability in their large genome sizes.
Project description:ABA deficient mutant Osaba1-1 exhibits great resistance to Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo) infection. To investigate gene expression profile changes at whole genome level between Osaba1-1 and wild-type (Nipponbare) rice during Xoo infection, we employed microarray expression profiling as a discovery platform.
Project description:Retrons are bacterial genetic elements that encode a reverse transcriptase and, in combination with toxic effector proteins, can serve as antiphage defense systems. However, the mechanisms of action of most retron effectors, and how phages evade retrons, are not well understood. Here, we show that some phages can evade retrons and other defense systems by producing specific tRNAs. We find that expression of retron-Eco7 effector proteins (PtuA and PtuB) leads to degradation of tRNA-Tyr and abortive infection. The genomes of T5 phages that evade retron-Eco7 include a tRNA-rich region, including a highly expressed tRNA-Tyr gene, which confers protection against retron-Eco7. Furthermore, we show that other phages (T1, T7) can use a similar strategy, expressing a tRNA-Lys, to counteract a tRNA anticodon defense system (PrrC170).
Project description:This SuperSeries is composed of the following subset Series: GSE9640: Transcriptome Profiling of Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae and Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzicola on two different medias GSE9643: Transcriptome Profiling of Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae knockout mutants at different hybridization conditions and PMTs Keywords: SuperSeries Refer to individual Series
Project description:Xanthomonas campestris pv. campestris (Xcc) is a major bacterial pathogen of cruciferous plants worldwide. The pathogen produces polysaccharides including extracellular cyclic glucan, xanthan, and extracellular enzymes that are key virulence factors. Different Xcc mutants (8397-defective in xanthan and 8523- defective in extracellular glucans) have been obtained and characterized in previously, wich shown to be less infective than the wild type strain when inoculated in N.benthamiana, wich has shown to be an excellent model for the study of Xcc-plant interaction. The objective of this work is evaluate this compounds functions in the plant-pathogen interaction, in particular in the plant transcriptoma modulation to confer susceptibility or resistance to the infection. Plant gene expression profiles would be obtained from independently inoculated leaves of N.benthamiana with the following strains of xanthomonas: Xcc. 8004 (wild type), Xcc. 8397 (xanthan minus), Xcc. 8523 (glucan minus), ant water (control). Leaves discs will be collected at 24 hs post infection and immediately submerged in liquid N2. Total RNA will be extracted with plant RNA specific kits (RNA easy QIAGen), treated with DNase, purified and quantified. Keywords: Reference design