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The Pseudomonas syringae type III effectors AvrRpm1 and AvrRpt2 promote virulence dependent on the F-box protein COI1

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Type III effectors AvrRpm1 and AvrRpt2 promote bacterial growth dependent on a COI1-mediated pathway in the absence of the RPM1 and RPS2 resistance proteins.

Abstract

The type III effectors, AvrRpm1 and AvrRpt2, promote bacterial virulence by suppressing host defense responses. The defense suppressing activities of AvrRpm1 and AvrRpt2 are best studied in the absence of the resistance proteins RPM1 and RPS2, which induce defense responses to them. We tested whether the type III effectors could modulate a CORONATINE INSENSITIVE1 (COI1)-mediated hormone signaling pathway to promote virulence. COI1 has been demonstrated to contribute in the induction of chlorosis during Pseudomonas syringae infection. By comparing the activity of inducibly expressed AvrRpm1-HA or AvrRpt2-HA in rpm1rps2 and rpm1rps2coi1 backgrounds, we demonstrate that both effectors promote bacterial growth dependent on a COI1-mediated pathway and additively with the action of coronatine (COR) and that AvrRpt2-HA induces COI1-dependent chlorosis. Further, PATHOGENESIS RELATED1 (PR-1) expression resulting from inducible expression of AvrRpm1-HA or AvrRpt2-HA is elevated in coi1 plants consistent with the effectors activating JA-signaling to antagonize SA-signaling. In addition, we found that AvrRpm1-HA or AvrRpt2-HA requires COI1 to promote bacterial growth through suppression of both SA-dependent and SA-independent defense responses. Collectively, these results indicate that type III effectors AvrRpm1 and AvrRpt2 promote bacterial virulence by targeting a COI1-dependent signaling pathway.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank Barbara Kunkel for plasmid pDB29 and John Turner for coi1-16 seeds.

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Author notes

  1. Jin Hee Kim

    Present address: Academy of New Biology for Plant Senescence and Life History/New Biology, DGIST, 50-1 Sang-Ri, Hyeonpung-Myeon, Dalseong-Gun, Daegu, 711-873, Korea

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Agriculture and Biology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 800 Dongchuan Road, Shanghai, 200240, People’s Republic of China

    Xueqing Geng

  2. Department of Horticulture and Crop Science, The Ohio State Univerity, Rm. 306C Kottman Hall, 2021 Coffey Rd, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA

    Xueqing Geng, Mingzhe Shen, Jin Hee Kim & David Mackey

  3. Department of Molecular and Genetics, The Ohio State Univerity, Columbus, USA

    David Mackey

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  1. Xueqing Geng
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  4. David Mackey
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Correspondence to Xueqing Geng or David Mackey.

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Funding

This project was supported by National Science Foundation (US) (MCB–0718882); National Natural Science Foundation of China (31401703); National Institute of Food and Agriculture (US) (2008–35319–04506); and Korean Rural Development Administration, Next-Generation BioGreen Program (System and Synthetic Agro-Biotech Center) (PJ009088 and PJ011091).

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The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

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Communicated by L. Tripathi.

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Geng, X., Shen, M., Kim, J.H. et al. The Pseudomonas syringae type III effectors AvrRpm1 and AvrRpt2 promote virulence dependent on the F-box protein COI1. Plant Cell Rep 35, 921–932 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00299-016-1932-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00299-016-1932-z

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