October
2008
, Volume
21
, Number
10
Pages
1,359
-
1,370
Authors
Carmen M. Herrera,1
Maria D. Koutsoudis,2
Xiaolei Wang,1 and
Susanne B. von Bodman1,2
Affiliations
1Department of Plant Science and 2Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of Connecticut, Storrs 06269, U.S.A.
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RelatedArticle
Accepted 18 June 2008.
Abstract
Pantoea stewartii subsp. stewartii is a plant-pathogenic bacterium that causes Stewart's vascular wilt in maize. The organism is taxonomically described as aflagellated and nonmotile. We recently showed that P. stewartii colonizes the xylem of maize as sessile, cell-wall-adherent biofilms. Biofilm formation is a developmental process that generally involves some form of surface motility. For that reason, we reexamined the motility properties of P. stewartii DC283 based on the assumption that the organism requires some form of surface motility for biofilm development. Here, we show that the organism is highly motile on agar surfaces. This motility is flagella dependent, shown by the fact that a fliC mutant, impaired in flagellin subunit synthesis, is nonmotile. Motility also requires the production of stewartan exopolysaccharide. Moreover, surface motility plays a significant role in the colonization of the plant host.
JnArticleKeywords
Additional keywords:Erwinia stewartii, EsaI/EsaR, virulence, xylem dissemination.
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© 2008 The American Phytopathological Society