Relatively little is known about the exact mechanisms used by Bacillus subtilis in its behavior as a biocontrol agent on plants. Here, we report the development of a sensitive plant infection model demonstrating that the bacterial pathogen Pseudomonas syringae pv tomato DC3000 is capable of infecting Arabidopsis roots both in vitro and in soil. Using this infection model, we demonstrated the bi...

The concept of the coevolutionary arms race holds a central position in our understanding of pathogen-host interactions. Here we identify the molecular mechanisms and follow the stepwise progression of an arms race in a natural system. We show how the evolution and function of the HopZ family of type III secreted effector proteins carried by the plant pathogen Pseudomonas syringae are influence...

Mangotoxin is an antimetabolite toxin produced by certain Pseudomonas syringae pv. syringae strains. This toxin is an oligopeptide that inhibits ornithine N-acetyl transferase, a key enzyme in the biosynthesis of ornithine and arginine. Previous studies have reported the involvement of the putative nonribosomal peptide synthetase MgoA in virulence and mangotoxin production. In this study, we an...

We are developing a new recombineering system to assist experimental manipulation of the Pseudomonas syringae genome. P. syringae is a globally dispersed plant pathogen and an important model species used to study the molecular biology of bacteria-plant interactions. We previously identified orthologs of the lambda Red bet/exo and Rac recET genes in P. syringae and confirmed that they function ...

Recognition of pathogens by plants involves the coordinated efforts of molecular chaperones, disease resistance (R) proteins, and components of disease resistance signaling pathways. Characterization of events associated with pathogen perception in Arabidopsis thaliana has advanced understanding of molecular genetic mechanisms associated with disease resistance and protein interactions critical...

The N-acyl homoserine lactone (AHL)-mediated quorum-sensing system in the phytopathogen Pseudomonas syringae pv. syringae requires the AHL synthase AhlI and the regulator AhlR, and is additionally subject to regulation by AefR. The contribution of quorum sensing to the expression of a variety of traits expected to be involved in epiphytic fitness and virulence of P syringae were examined. Both ...

The spatial organization of cells within bacterial aggregates on leaf surfaces was determined for pair-wise mixtures of three different bacterial species commonly found on leaves, Pseudomonas syringae, Pantoea agglomerans, and Pseudomonas fluorescens. Cells were coinoculated onto bean plants and allowed to grow under moist conditions, and the resulting aggregates were examined in situ by epiflu...

Pseudomonas syringae pv. syringae, like many plant pathogenic bacteria, secretes a 'harpin' protein that can elicit the hypersensitive response (HR), a defensive cellular suicide, in non-host plants. The harpin-encoding hrpZ gene is located in an operon that also encodes Hrp secretion pathway components and is part of the functional cluster of hrp genes carried on cosmid pHIR11 that enables sap...

We developed a novel approach for de novo genome assembly using only sequence data from high-throughput short read sequencing technologies. By combining data generated from 454 Life Sciences (Roche) and Illumina (formerly known as Solexa sequencing) sequencing platforms, we reliably assembled genomes into large scaffolds at a fraction of the traditional cost and without use of a reference seque...

A genetic approach was used to assess the extent to which a particular plant defense response, phytoalexin biosynthesis, contributes to Arabidopsis thaliana resistance to Pseudomonas syringae pathogens. The A. thaliana phytoalexin, camalexin, accumulated in response to infection by various P. syringae strains. No correlation between pathogen avirulence and camalexin accumulation was observed. A...