title: A mutation in the aroE gene affects pigment production, virulence, and chemotaxis in Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae.
abstract: Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo) causes bacterial blight (BB) in rice. To study its function, a random insertion mutation library of Xoo was constructed using the Tn5 transposon. A mutant strain with decreased virulence against the susceptible rice cultivar IR24 was isolated from the library (aroE mutant), which also had extremely low pigment production. Thermal asymmetric interlaced-polymerase chain reaction (TAIL-PCR) and sequence analysis of the mutant revealed that the transposon was inserted into the aroE gene (encoding shikimate dehydrogenase). To investigate gene expression changes in the pigment- and virulence-deficient mutant, DNA microarray analysis was performed, which showed downregulation of 20 genes involved in the chemotaxis of Xoo. Our findings reveal that mutation of the aroE gene affects virulence and pigment production, as well as expression of genes involved in Xoo chemotaxis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Chemistry, Konkuk University, Chung-Ju 380-701, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: kwangdae7@kku.ac.kr.
authors.forename: Hong-Il
authors.initials: HI
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Rice and Winter Cereal Crop, National Institute of Crop Science, Iksan 570-080, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: nohtw831@korea.kr.
authors.forename: Tae-Hwan
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Noh
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Chemistry, Konkuk University, Chung-Ju 380-701, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: cslee@kku.ac.kr.
authors.forename: Chang-Soo
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Chemistry, Konkuk University, Chung-Ju 380-701, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: yjpark@kku.ac.kr.
authors.forename: Young-Jin
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Park
mesh_terms: D002633:Chemotaxis / Q000276:immunology*; D004251:DNA Transposable Elements; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D015964:Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial; D023061:Gene Order; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D056426:Genetic Loci; D058977:Molecular Sequence Annotation; D009154:Mutation; D010860:Pigments, Biological / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D014774:Virulence / Q000235:genetics; D014974:Xanthomonas / Q000472:pathogenicity / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D004251:DNA Transposable Elements; D010860:Pigments, Biological
keywords: Chemotaxis; Pigment; Virulence; X. oryzae pv. oryzae; aroE