mgo promotes the expression of a gene cluster that contributes to the survival of Pseudomonas syringae in tomato leaflets
Pseudomonas syringae is an important plant pathogen that infects a wide variety of crops. The mgo (mangotoxin-generating operon) gene cluster produces an extracellular signaling molecule, leudiazen, and is highly conserved in Pseudomonas syringae strains. Here, we genetically removed mgo in Pseudomonas syringae pv. syringae (Pss) UMAF0158 to interrogate its impacts on bacterial infection. Loss of mgo not only alleviated the chlorosis symptom caused by Pss UMAF0158 infection, but also reduced bacterial population in tomato leaflets. Structure-activity relationship revealed that the diazeniumdiolate group and the isobutyl side chain of leudiazen are critical for its signaling activity. Through global transcriptome analysis, we found that mgo regulates the expression of a new gene cluster in addition to mangotoxin biosynthetic operon, namely RS17235-RS17245. This new gene cluster contributes to in planta survival of Pss UMAF0158 and is widely distributed in Pseudomonas syringae strains. Our results demonstrate that chemical signaling systems in plant pathogens play prominent roles in virulence and population increase and set stages for understanding downstream components of mgo-regulated signaling pathways. Overall design: Analysis of Pss UMAF0158 (wild-type) and ?mgo, with three biological replicates per genotype (six total samples).