biostudies-literatureUnknown9(7)Creason ALMembers of Gram-positive Actinobacteria cause economically important diseases to plants. Within the Rhodococcus genus, some members can cause growth deformities and persist as pathogens on a wide range of host plants. The current model predicts that phytopathogenic isolates require a cluster of three loci present on a linear plasmid, with the fas operon central to virulence. The Fas proteins synthesize, modify, and activate a mixture of growth regulating cytokinins, which cause a hormonal imbalance in plants, resulting in abnormal growth. We sequenced and compared the genomes of 20 isolates of Rhodococcus to gain insights into the mechanisms and evolution of virulence in these bacteria. Horizontal gene transfer was identified as critical but limited in the scale of virulence evolution, as PloS onee101996https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC4092121biostudies-literatureAnalysis of genome sequences from plant pathogenic Rhodococcus reveals genetic novelties in virulence loci.PMC4092121Zdanowska MSavory EAPutnam MLVandeputte OMPrinsen EGivan SADavis EWEl Jaziri MLoper JESwader-Hines DHu EChang JHCreason ALMahmud TMol ABaucher MfalseAnalysis of genome sequences from plant pathogenic Rhodococcus reveals genetic novelties in virulence loci.Members of Gram-positive Actinobacteria cause economically important diseases to plants. Within the Rhodococcus genus, some members can cause growth deformities and persist as pathogens on a wide range of host plants. The current model predicts that phytopathogenic isolates require a cluster of three loci present on a linear plasmid, with the fas operon central to virulence. The Fas proteins synthesize, modify, and activate a mixture of growth regulating cytokinins, which cause a hormonal imbalance in plants, resulting in abnormal growth. We sequenced and compared the genomes of 20 isolates of Rhodococcus to gain insights into the mechanisms and evolution of virulence in these bacteria. Horizontal gene transfer was identified as critical but limited in the scale of virulence evolution, as 2014-01-01T00:00:00Z20142026-04-16T09:10:30.352Z2019-03-26T23:26:27ZS-EPMC40921212501093410.1371/journal.pone.0101996