Applied and Environmental Microbiology (2012) 78, 6327-6336

Valdir R. Correa, Doris R. Majerczak, El-Desouky Ammar, Massimo Merighi, Richard C. Pratt, Saskia A. Hogenhout, David L. Coplin and Margaret G. Redinbaugh (2012)
The bacterium Pantoea stewartii uses two different type III secretion systems to colonize its plant host and insect vector
Applied and Environmental Microbiology 78 (17), 6327-6336
Abstract: Plant- and animal-pathogenic bacteria utilize phylogenetically distinct type III secretion systems (T3SS) that produce needle-like injectisomes or pili for the delivery of effector proteins into host cells. Pantoea stewartii subsp. stewartii (herein referred to as P. stewartii), the causative agent of Stewart's bacterial wilt and leaf blight of maize, carries phylogenetically distinct T3SSs. In addition to an Hrc-Hrp T3SS, known to be essential for maize pathogenesis, P. stewartii has a second T3SS (Pantoea secretion island 2 [PSI-2]) that is required for persistence in its flea beetle vector, Chaetocnema pulicaria (Melsh). PSI-2 belongs to the Inv-Mxi-Spa T3SS family, typically found in animal pathogens. Mutagenesis of the PSI-2 psaN gene, which encodes an ATPase essential for secretion of T3SS effectors by the injectisome, greatly reduces both the persistence of P. stewartii in flea beetle guts and the beetle's ability to transmit P. stewartii to maize. Ectopic expression of the psaN gene complements these phenotypes. In addition, the PSI-2 psaN gene is not required for P. stewartii pathogenesis of maize and is transcriptionally upregulated in insects compared to maize tissues. Thus, the Hrp and PSI-2 T3SSs play different roles in the life cycle of P. stewartii as it alternates between its insect vector and plant host.
(The abstract is excluded from the Creative Commons licence and has been copied with permission by the publisher.)
Link to article at publishers website
Database assignments for author(s): Margaret G. Redinbaugh, Saskia A. Hogenhout

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
molecular biology - genes

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Pantoea stewartii	Maize/corn (Zea mays)