Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions (2008) 21, 1359-1370

Carmen M. Herrera, Maria D. Koutsoudis, Xiaolei Wang and Susanne B. von Bodman (2008)
Pantoea stewartii subsp. stewartii exhibits surface motility, which is a critical aspect of Stewart's wilt disease development on maize
Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions 21 (10), 1359-1370
Abstract: Pantoea stewartii subsp. stewartii is a plant-pathogenic bacterium that causes Stewart's vascular wilt in maize. The organism is taxonomically described as aflagellated and nonmotile. We recently showed that P. stewartii colonizes the xylem of maize as sessile, cell-wall-adherent biofilms. Biofilm formation is a developmental process that generally involves some form of surface motility. For that reason, we reexamined the motility properties of P. stewartii DC283 based on the assumption that the organism requires some form of surface motility for biofilm development. Here, we show that the organism is highly motile on agar surfaces. This motility is flagella dependent, shown by the fact that a fliC mutant, impaired in flagellin subunit synthesis, is nonmotile. Motility also requires the production of stewartan exopolysaccharide. Moreover, surface motility plays a significant role in the colonization of the 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): Susanne B. von Bodman

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
general biology - morphology - evolution
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)