title: Homology and functional similarity of an hrp-linked pathogenicity locus, dspEF, of Erwinia amylovora and the avirulence locus avrE of Pseudomonas syringae pathovar tomato.
abstract: The "disease-specific" (dsp) region next to the hrp gene cluster of Erwinia amylovora is required for pathogenicity but not for elicitation of the hypersensitive reaction. A 6.6-kb apparent operon, dspEF, was found responsible for this phenotype. The operon contains genes dspE and dspF and is positively regulated by hrpL. A BLAST search revealed similarity in the dspE gene to a partial sequence of the avrE locus of Pseudomonas syringae pathovar tomato. The entire avrE locus was sequenced. Homologs of dspE and dspF were found in juxtaposed operons and were designated avrE and avrF. Introduced on a plasmid, the dspEF locus rendered P. syringae pv. glycinea race 4 avirulent on soybean. An E. amylovora dspE mutant, however, elicited a hypersensitive reaction in soybean. The avrE locus in trans restored pathogenicity to dspE strains of E. amylovora, although restored strains were low in virulence. DspE and AvrE are large (198 kDa and 195 kDa) and hydrophilic. DspF and AvrF are small (16 kDa and 14 kDa) and acidic with predicted amphipathic alpha helices in their C termini; they resemble chaperones for virulence factors secreted by type III secretion systems of animal pathogens.
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Pathology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA.
authors.forename: A J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Bogdanove
authors.forename: J F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kolchinsky
authors.forename: A O
authors.initials: AO
authors.lastname: Charkowski
authors.forename: A K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Conlin
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Collmer
authors.forename: S V
authors.initials: SV
authors.lastname: Beer
mesh_terms: D004251:DNA Transposable Elements; D004885:Erwinia / Q000235:genetics* / Q000472:pathogenicity; D018551:Solanum lycopersicum; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016296:Mutagenesis; D009876:Operon; D010935:Plant Diseases / Q000235:genetics*; D010947:Plants, Toxic; D011549:Pseudomonas / Q000235:genetics* / Q000472:pathogenicity; D013025:Glycine max; D014026:Nicotiana
chemical_list: D004251:DNA Transposable Elements