title: Functional characterization of the gene cluster from Pseudomonas syringae pv. phaseolicola NPS3121 involved in synthesis of phaseolotoxin.
abstract: Pseudomonas syringae pv. phaseolicola is the causal agent of halo blight disease of beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.), which is characterized by water-soaked lesions surrounded by a chlorotic halo resulting from the action of a non-host-specific toxin known as phaseolotoxin. This phytotoxin inhibits the enzyme ornithine carbamoyltransferase involved in arginine biosynthesis. Different evidence suggested that genes involved in phaseolotoxin production were clustered. Two genes had been previously identified in our laboratory within this cluster: argK, which is involved in the immunity of the bacterium to its own toxin, and amtA, which is involved in the synthesis of homoarginine. We sequenced the region around argK and amtA in P. syringae pv. phaseolicola NPS3121 to determine the limits of the putative phaseolotoxin gene cluster and to determine the transcriptional pattern of the genes comprising it. We report that the phaseolotoxin cluster (Pht cluster) is composed of 23 genes and is flanked by insertion sequences and transposases. The mutation of 14 of the genes within the cluster lead to a Tox(-) phenotype for 11 of them, while three mutants exhibited low levels of toxin production. The analysis of fusions of selected DNA fragments to uidA, Northern probing, and reverse transcription-PCR indicate the presence of five transcriptional units, two monocistronic and three polycistronic; one is internal to a larger operon. The site for transcription initiation has been determined for each promoter, and the putative promoter regions were identified. Preliminary results also indicate that the gene product of phtL is involved in the regulation of the synthesis of phaseolotoxin.
authors.affiliation: Cinvestav, IPN Unidad Irapuato, Departamento de Ingeniería Genética, Irapuato, Gto., Apdo. Postal 629, CP 36500 Mexico.
authors.forename: Selene
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Aguilera
authors.forename: Karina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: López-López
authors.forename: Yudith
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Nieto
authors.forename: Rogelio
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Garcidueñas-Piña
authors.forename: Gustavo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Hernández-Guzmán
authors.forename: José Luis
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Hernández-Flores
authors.forename: Jesús
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Murillo
authors.forename: Ariel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Alvarez-Morales
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics; D015698:Genomic Library; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D005810:Multigene Family; D016296:Mutagenesis; D009952:Ornithine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000235:genetics; D009954:Ornithine Carbamoyltransferase / Q000235:genetics; D010957:Plasmids; D044224:Pseudomonas syringae / Q000235:genetics*; D015183:Restriction Mapping; D014158:Transcription, Genetic
chemical_list: C021234:phaseolotoxin; D009952:Ornithine; D009954:Ornithine Carbamoyltransferase