......................................................................................... 9 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................... 10 Perception of the pathogen ................................................................. 11 Gene-for-gene interactions ........................................................ 11 General elicitors ......

Bacteria of the genus Pectobacterium are economically important plant pathogens that cause soft rot disease on a wide variety of plant species. Here, we report the genome sequence of Pectobacterium carotovorum strain SCC1, a Finnish soft rot model strain isolated from a diseased potato tuber in the early 1980's. The genome of strain SCC1 consists of one circular chromosome of 4,974,798 bp and o...

In Erwinia carotovora subspecies, N-acyl homoserine lactone (AHL) controls the expression of various traits, including extracellular enzyme/protein production and pathogenicity. We report here that E. carotovora subspecies possess two classes of quorum-sensing signaling systems defined by the nature of the major AHL analog produced as well as structural and functional characteristics of AHL syn...

The production of extracellular enzymes such as pectate lyase (Pel), polygalacturonase (Peh), cellulase (Cel), and protease (Prt) is activated by the cell density (quorum)-sensing signal, N-(3-oxohexanoyl)-L-homoserine lactone (HSL); plant signals; and aep genes during postexponential growth of Erwinia carotovora subsp. carotovora 71. Studies with mutants of E. carotovora subsp. carotovora 71 d...

RsmC and FlhDC are global regulators controlling extracellular proteins/enzymes, rsmB RNA, motility, and virulence of Erwinia carotovora subsp. carotovora. FlhDC, the master regulator of flagellar genes, controls these traits by positively regulating gacA, fliA, and rsmC and negatively regulating hexA. RsmC, on the other hand, is a negative regulator of extracellular proteins/enzymes, motility,...

gene that responds to DNA-damaging agents. J. Bacteriol. 172:3284-3289. McEvoy, J. L., K.K. Thum, and A.K. Chatterjee. 1987. Expression of the E. coli lexA+ gene in Erwinia carotovora subsp, carotovora and its effect on production of pectin lyase and carotovoricin. Fed. European Microbiol. Soc. Microbiol. Lett. 42:205–208. Mount, M.S., P.M. Berman, R.P. Mortlock, and J.P. Hubbard. 1979. Regulat...

The bacterial pathogens Erwinia carotovora subsp. atroseptica, E. carotovora subsp. carotovora and E. chrysanthemi are responsible for soft rot diseases, affecting plants in the field and/or in storage. Thirty-one strains from Portugal and elsewhere were characterised by classical, fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) and molecular methods (MSP-PCR and BOX-PCR). Ten strains were identified as E. caro...

Bacteria belonging to the Pectobacterium genus are the causative agents of the blackleg and soft-rot diseases that affect potato plants and tubers worldwide. In Pectobacterium, the expression of the virulence genes is controlled by quorum-sensing (QS) and N-acylhomoserine lactones (AHLs). In this work, we screened a chemical library of QS-inhibitors (QSIs) and AHL-analogs to find novel QSIs tar...

Quorum sensing (QS) is a population density-dependent regulatory mechanism in which gene expression is coupled to the accumulation of a chemical signaling molecule. QS systems are widespread among the plant soft-rotting bacteria. In Pectobacterium carotovorum, at least two QS systems exist being specified by the nature of chemical signals involved. QS in Pectobacterium carotovorum uses N-acylho...

The production of antibiotics and their role in microbial competition under natural conditions can be readily studied by the use of transposon mutants. Several antibiotic-producing strains of Erwinia carotovora subsp. betavasculorum were unable to accept foreign DNA. A plasmid delivery system was developed, using ethyl methanesulfonate mutagenesis, which entailed isolating E. carotovora subsp. ...