April
2008
, Volume
21
, Number
4
Pages
411
-
423
Authors
Nai-Xia Chao,1
Ke Wei,1,2
Qi Chen,1
Qing-Lin Meng,1
Dong-Jie Tang,1
Yong-Qiang He,1
Guang-Tao Lu,1
Bo-Le Jiang,1
Xiao-Xia Liang,1
Jia-Xun Feng,1
Baoshan Chen,1 and
Ji-Liang Tang1
Affiliations
1Guangxi Key Laboratory of Subtropical Bioresources Conservation and Utilization, The Key Laboratory of Ministry of Education for Microbial and Plant Genetic Engineering, and College of Life Science and Technology, and 2College of Agriculture, Guangxi University, 100 Daxue Road, Nanning Guangxi 530004, China
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RelatedArticle
Accepted 1 November 2007.
Abstract
RsmA is an RNA-binding protein functioning as a global post-transcriptional regulator of various cellular processes in bacteria and has been demonstrated to be an important virulence regulator in many animal bacterial pathogens. However, its function in other phytopathogenic bacteria is unclear, except for the Erwinia carotovora RsmA, which acts as a negative virulence regulator. In this work, we investigated the function of the rsmA-like gene, named rsmAXcc, of the phytopathogen Xanthomonas campestris pv. campestris. Deletion of rsmAXcc resulted in complete loss of virulence on the host plant Chinese radish, hypersensitive response on the nonhost plant pepper ECW-10R, and motility on the surface of an agar plate. The rsmAXcc mutant displayed a significant reduction in the production of extracellular amylase, endoglucanase, and polysaccharide, but a significant increase in intracellular glycogen accumulation and an enhanced bacterial aggregation and cell adhesion. Microarray hybridization and semiquantitative reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction analysis showed that deletion of rsmAXcc led to significantly reduced expression of genes encoding the type III secretion system (T3SS), T3SS-effectors, and the bacterial aggregate dispersing enzyme endo-β-1,4-mannanase. These results suggest that rsmAXcc is involved in the control of various cellular processes, including pathogenesis of X. campestris pv. campestris.
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© 2008 The American Phytopathological Society