Elucidation of the hrp clusters of Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzicola that control the hypersensitive response in nonhost tobacco and pathogenicity in susceptible host rice.
Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzicola, the cause of bacterial leaf streak in rice, possesses clusters of hrp genes that determine its ability to elicit a hypersensitive response (HR) in nonhost tobacco and pathogenicity in host rice. A 27-kb region of the genome of X. oryzae pv. oryzicola (RS105) was identified and sequenced, revealing 10 hrp, 9 hrc (hrp conserved), and 8 hpa (hrp-associated) genes and 7 regulatory plant-inducible promoter boxes. While the region from hpa2 to hpaB and the hrpF operon resembled the corresponding genes of other xanthomonads, the hpaB-hrpF region incorporated an hrpE3 gene that was not present in X. oryzae pv. oryzae. We found that an hrpF mutant had lost the ability to elicit the HR in tobacco and pathogenicity in adult rice plants but still caused water-soaking symptoms in rice seedlings and that Hpa1 is an HR elicitor in nonhost tobacco whose expression is controlled by an hrp regulator, HrpX. Using an Hrp phenotype complementation test, we identified a small hrp cluster containing the hrpG and hrpX regulatory genes, which is separated from the core hrp cluster. In addition, we identified a gene, prhA (plant-regulated hrp), that played a key role in the Hrp phenotype of X. oryzae pv. oryzicola but was neither in the core hrp cluster nor in the hrp regulatory cluster. A prhA mutant failed to reduce the HR in tobacco and pathogenicity in rice but caused water-soaking symptoms in rice. This is the first report that X. oryzae pv. oryzicola possesses three separate DNA regions for HR induction in nonhost tobacco and pathogenicity in host rice, which will provide a fundamental base to understand pathogenicity determinants of X. oryzae pv. oryzicola compared with those of X. oryzae pv. oryzae.
Zou
Li-Fang
LF
Key Laboratory of Monitoring and Management for Plant Diseases and Insects, Ministry of Agriculture, Department of Plant Pathology, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China.
Wang
Xing-Ping
XP
Xiang
Yong
Y
Zhang
Bing
B
Li
Yu-Rong
YR
Xiao
You-Lun
YL
Wang
Jin-Sheng
JS
Walmsley
Adrian R
AR
Chen
Gong-You
GY
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D001483:Base Sequence; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D005809:Genes, Regulator; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D005810:Multigene Family; D009154:Mutation; D016366:Open Reading Frames; D009876:Operon; D012275:Oryza / Q000382:microbiology; D010641:Phenotype; D010802:Phylogeny; D010935:Plant Diseases / Q000382:microbiology; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D014026:Nicotiana / Q000382:microbiology; D014774:Virulence / Q000235:genetics; D014974:Xanthomonas / Q000235:genetics* / Q000472:pathogenicity*
D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D004269:DNA, Bacterial