title: Molecular mechanisms underlying the emergence of bacterial pathogens: an ecological perspective.
abstract: The rapid emergence of new bacterial diseases negatively affects both human health and agricultural productivity. Although the molecular mechanisms underlying these disease emergences are shared between human- and plant-pathogenic bacteria, not much effort has been made to date to understand disease emergences caused by plant-pathogenic bacteria. In particular, there is a paucity of information in the literature on the role of environmental habitats in which plant-pathogenic bacteria evolve and on the stress factors to which these microbes are unceasingly exposed. In this microreview, we focus on three molecular mechanisms underlying pathogenicity in bacteria, namely mutations, genomic rearrangements and the acquisition of new DNA sequences through horizontal gene transfer (HGT). We briefly discuss the role of these mechanisms in bacterial disease emergence and elucidate how the environment can influence the occurrence and regulation of these molecular mechanisms by directly impacting disease emergence. The understanding of such molecular evolutionary mechanisms and their environmental drivers will represent an important step towards predicting bacterial disease emergence and developing sustainable management strategies for crops.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire des Interactions Plantes-Microorganismes (LIPM), INRA, UMR441, F-31326, Castanet-Tolosan, France.|Laboratoire des Interactions Plantes-Microorganismes (LIPM), CNRS, UMR2594, F-31326, Castanet-Tolosan, France.
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bartoli
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire des Interactions Plantes-Microorganismes (LIPM), INRA, UMR441, F-31326, Castanet-Tolosan, France.|Laboratoire des Interactions Plantes-Microorganismes (LIPM), CNRS, UMR2594, F-31326, Castanet-Tolosan, France.
authors.forename: Fabrice
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Roux
authors.affiliation: UAR 1240 Eco-Innov, INRA, BP 01, 78850, Thiverval-Grignon, France.
authors.forename: Jay Ram
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Lamichhane
mesh_terms: D001419:Bacteria / Q000235:genetics*; D005075:Biological Evolution; D017753:Ecosystem; D015321:Gene Rearrangement / Q000235:genetics; D054884:Host-Pathogen Interactions / Q000235:genetics*; D009154:Mutation / Q000235:genetics
keywords: disease emergence; environmental habitats; genomic rearrangements; horizontal gene transfer; point mutations