Abstract
The transcriptional regulator HrpB activates the entire hrp regulon in the plant pathogen Ralstonia solanacearum. Through a complex multigene regulatory cascade PrhA–PrhR/PrhI–PrhJ–HrpG, expression of hrpB is induced in a hrp-inducing, nutrient-poor medium and in response to contact between the bacterium and plant cell. In this study, we analyzed the expression levels of these regulatory genes and hrpB using lacZ reporter strains grown in three different conditions: in a nutrient-rich or nutrient-poor medium and co-cultivated with Arabidopsis thaliana seedlings. We found that prhA and prhIR were expressed constitutively. Expression of prhJ and hrpG was PrhA-dependent in all three conditions. Despite the high level of hrpG expression in all cases, hrpB was induced only when the bacteria were co-cultivated with A. thaliana seedlings or grown in nutrient-poor medium. A mutation in the predicted phosphorylation site of hrpG greatly reduced the function of HrpG. From these results, we conclude that the prhA-dependent regulatory cascade controls the expression of hrpG, and a new cascade, which is induced by a signal from plant cells, activates HrpG by phosphorylation. Only when both signal cascades are effective is full expression of hrpB induced. We speculate that the metabolic status of the bacteria in the nutrient-poor medium also contributes to the second cascade.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Aldon D, Brito B, Boucher C, Genin S (2000) A bacterial sensor of plant cell contact controls the transcriptional induction of Ralstonia solanacearum pathogenicity genes. EMBO J 19:2304–2314
Alegria MC, Docena C, Khater L, Ramos CHI, da Silva ACR, Farah CS (2004) New protein–protein interactions identified for the regulatory and structural components and substrates of the type III secretion system of the phytopathogen Xanthomonas axonopodis pathovar citri. J Bacteriol 186:6186–6197
Arlat M, Gough CL, Zischek C, Barberis PA, Trigalet A, Boucher CA (1992) Transcriptional organization and expression of the large hrp gene cluster of Pseudomonas solanacearum. Mol Plant Microbe Interact 5:187–193
Arlat M, Van Gijsegem F, Huet JC, Pernollet JC, Boucher CA (1994) PopA1, a protein which induces a hypersensitivity-like response on specific Petunia genotypes, is secreted via the Hrp pathway of Pseudomonas solanacearum. EMBO J 13:543–553
Arnold DL, Pitman A, Jackson RW (2003) Pathogenicity and other genomic islands in plant pathogenic bacteria. Mol Plant Pathol 4:407–420
Boucher CA, Barberis PA, Trigalet AP, Demery DA (1985) Transposon mutagenesis of Pseudomonas solanacearum: Isolation of Tn5-induced avirulent mutants. J Gen Microbiol 131:2449–2457
Brito B, Marenda M, Barberis P, Boucher C, Genin S (1999) prhJ and hrpG, two new components of the plant signal-dependent regulatory cascade controlled by PrhA in Ralstonia solanacearum. Mol Microbiol 31:237–251
Brito B, Aldon D, Barberis P, Boucher C, Genin S (2002) A signal transfer system through three compartments transduces the plant cell contact-dependent signal controlling Ralstonia solanacearum hrp genes. Mol Plant Microbe Interact 15:109–119
Brumbley SM, Carney BF, Denny TP (1993) Phenotype conversion in Pseudomonas solanacearum due to spontaneous inactivation of PhcA, a putative LysR transcriptional regulator. J Bacteriol 175:5477–5487
Clough SJ, Flavier AB, Schell MA, Denny TP (1997) Differential expression of virulence genes and motility in Ralstonia (Pseudomonas) solanacearum during exponential growth. Appl Environ Microbiol 63:844–850
Cunnac S, Boucher C, Genin S (2004) Characterization of the cis-acting regulatory element controlling HrpB-mediated activation of the type III secretion system and effector genes in Ralstonia solanacearum. J Bacteriol 186:2309–2318
Fujiwara T, Hirai MY, Chino M, Komeda Y, Naito S (1992) Effects of sulfur nutrition on expression of the soybean seed storage protein genes in transgenic Petunia. Plant Physiol 99:263–268
Galán JE, Collmer A (1999) Type III secretion machines: bacterial devices for protein delivery into host cells. Science 284:1322–1328
Genin S, Gough CL, Zischek C, Boucher CA (1992) Evidence that the hrpB gene encodes a positive regulator of pathogenicity genes from Pseudomonas solanacearum. Mol Microbiol 6:3065–3076
Genin S, Brito B, Denny TP, Boucher C (2005) Control of the Ralstonia solanacearum Type III secretion system (Hrp) genes by the global virulence regulator PhcA. FEBS Lett 579:2077–2081
Hueck CJ (1998) Type III protein secretion systems in bacterial pathogens of animals and plants. Microbiol Mol Biol Rev 62:379–433
Kanda A, Ohnishi S, Tomiyama H, Hasegawa H, Yasukohchi M, Kiba A, Ohnishi K, Okuno T, Hikichi Y (2003a) Type III-secretion machinery-deficient mutants of Ralstonia solanacearum lose their ability to colonize resulting in loss of pathogenicity. J Gen Plant Pathol 69:250–257
Kanda A, Yasukohchi M, Ohnishi K, Kiba A, Okuno T, Hikichi Y (2003b) Ectopic expression of Ralstonia solanacearum effector protein PopA early in invasion results in loss of virulence. Mol Plant Microbe Interact 16:447–455
Marenda M, Brito B, Callard D, Genin S, Barberis P, Boucher C, Arlat M (1998) PrhA controls a novel regulatory pathway required for the specific induction of Ralstonia solanacearum hrp genes in the presence of plant cells. Mol Microbiol 27:437–453
Miller JH (1992) The lac system. In: Miller JH (ed) A short course in bacterial genetics. A laboratory manual and handbook for Escherichia coli and related bacteria. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, Plainview, pp 43–80
Mukaihara T, Tamura N, Murata Y, Iwabuchi M (2004) Genetic screening of Hrp type III-related pathogenicity genes controlled by the HrpB transcriptional activator in Ralstonia solanacearum. Mol Microbiol 54:863–875
Neilands JB (1995) Siderophores: structure and function of microbial iron transport compounds. J Biol Chem 270:26723–26726
Salanoubat M, Genin S, Artiguenave F, Gouzy J, Mangenot S, Arlat M, Billault A, Brottier P, Camus JC, Cattolico L, Chandler M, Choisne N, Claudel-Renard C, Cunnac S, Demange N, Gaspin C, Lavie M, Moisan A, Robert C, Saurin W, Schiex T, Siguier P, Thébault P, Whalen M, Wincker P, Levy M, Weissenbach J, Boucher CA (2002) Genome sequence of the plant pathogen Ralstonia solanacearum. Nature 415:497–502
Schäfer A, Tauch A, Jäger W, Kalinowski J, Thierbach G, Pühler A (1994) Small mobilizable multi-purpose cloning vectors derived from the Escherichia coli plasmids pK18 and pK19: selection of defined deletions in the chromosome of Corynebacterium glutamicum. Gene 145:69–73
Schell MA (2000) Control of virulence and pathogenicity genes of Ralstonia solanacearum by an elaborate sensory network. Annu Rev Phytopathol 38:263–292
Simon R, Priefer U, Pühler A (1983) A broad host range mobilization system for in vivo genetic engineering: transposon mutagenesis in gram negative bacteria. Bio/Technology 1:784–791
Simonovic M, Volz K (2001) A distinct meta-active conformation in the 1.1-Å resolution structure of wild-type ApoCheY. J Biol Chem 276:28637–28640
Tamura N, Murata Y, Mukaihara T (2005) Isolation of Ralstonia solanacearum hrpB constitutive mutants and secretion analysis of hrpB-regulated gene products that share homology with known type III effectors and enzymes. Microbiology 151:2873–2884
Toro-Roman A, Mack TR, Stock AM (2005) Structural analysis and solution studies of the activated regulatory domain of the response regulator ArcA: a symmetric dimer mediated by the α4–β5–α5 face. J Mol Biol 349:11–26
Valls M, Genin S, Boucher C (2006) Integrated regulation of the type III secretion system and other virulence determinants in Ralstonia solanacearum. PLoS Pathog 2:e82
Van Gijsegem F, Gough C, Zischek C, Niqueux E, Arlat M, Genin S, Barberis P, German S, Castello P, Boucher C (1995) The hrp gene locus of Pseudomonas solanacearum, which controls the production of a type III secretion system, encodes eight proteins related to components of the bacterial flagellar biogenesis complex. Mol Microbiol 15:1095–1114
Wengelnik K, Van den Ackerveken G, Bonas U (1996) HrpG, a key hrp regulatory protein of Xanthomonas campestris pv. vesicatoria is homologous to two-component response regulators. Mol Plant Microbe Interact 9:704–712
Wengelnik K, Rossier O, Bonas U (1999) Mutations in the regulatory gene hrpG of Xanthomonas campestris pv. vesicatoria result in constitutive expression of all hrp genes. J Bacteriol 181:6828–6831
Yoshimochi T, Hikichi Y, Kiba A, Ohnishi K (2009) The global virulence regulator PhcA negatively controls the Ralstonia solanacearum hrp regulatory cascade by repressing expression of the PrhIR signalling proteins. J Bacteriol. doi:10.1128/JB.01113-08
Acknowledgments
This work was supported in part by KAKENHI (Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research) from Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (16658020 to Y.H. and 17380031 to K.O.).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Yoshimochi, T., Zhang, Y., Kiba, A. et al. Expression of hrpG and activation of response regulator HrpG are controlled by distinct signal cascades in Ralstonia solanacearum . J Gen Plant Pathol 75, 196–204 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10327-009-0157-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10327-009-0157-1