Threats and opportunities of plant pathogenic bacteria.
Plant pathogenic bacteria can have devastating effects on plant productivity and yield. Nevertheless, because these often soil-dwelling bacteria have evolved to interact with eukaryotes, they generally exhibit a strong adaptivity, a versatile metabolism, and ingenious mechanisms tailored to modify the development of their hosts. Consequently, besides being a threat for agricultural practices, phytopathogens may also represent opportunities for plant production or be useful for specific biotechnological applications. Here, we illustrate this idea by reviewing the pathogenic strategies and the (potential) uses of five very different (hemi)biotrophic plant pathogenic bacteria: Agrobacterium tumefaciens, A. rhizogenes, Rhodococcus fascians, scab-inducing Streptomyces spp., and Pseudomonas syringae.
Centre of the Region Haná for Biotechnological and Agricultural Research, Faculty of Science, Palacký University, Šlechtitelů 11, CZ-78371 Olomouc, Czech Republic. Electronic address: petr.tarkowski@upol.cz.
Petr
P
Tarkowski
Department of Applied Biosciences, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Valentin Vaerwyckweg 1, BE-9000 Ghent, Belgium. Electronic address: danny.vereecke@ugent.be.
Danny
D
Vereecke
D001419:Bacteria / Q000254:growth & development / Q000472:pathogenicity; D001709:Biotechnology; D018556:Crops, Agricultural / Q000235:genetics / Q000382:microbiology / Q000502:physiology; D005818:Genetic Engineering; D010935:Plant Diseases / Q000382:microbiology*; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified / Q000235:genetics / Q000382:microbiology / Q000502:physiology; D046509:Tissue Culture Techniques
Genetic engineering; Phytopathogen; Plant disease; Plant growth regulator; Tissue culture