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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Ithaca, New York » Robert W. Holley Center for Agriculture & Health » Emerging Pests and Pathogens Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #397243
Research Project: Advancing Knowledge of the Biology and Etiology of Bacterial Plant Pathogens Towards Management Strategies

Location: Emerging Pests and Pathogens Research

Title: Understanding how dickeya senses the plant environment

Author
item GONZALEZ-TOBON, JULIANA - Cornell University
item Helmann, Tyler
item Karp, Mary
item Stodghill, Paul
item Filiatrault, Melanie

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/16/2023
Publication Date: 8/28/2023
Citation: Gonzalez-Tobon, J., Helmann, T.C., Karp, M.A., Stodghill, P., Filiatrault, M.J. 2023. Understanding how dickeya senses the plant environment. Meeting Abstract. Plant Pathology, Cornell University.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Plant pathogenic bacteria sense their surrounding environment via chemoreceptor proteins in a process known as chemotaxis. Members of the Dickeya genus, that cause blackleg and soft rot on many plant hosts including potatoes, present notoriously more methyl-accepting chemoreceptors (MCPs) than even closely related bacteria. These receptors can sense compounds and subsequently transduce those signals into the bacterial cell to regulate cellular functions. However, the precise role of MCPs in disease is not fully understood. As well, long untranslated regions with no known function exist upstream of the coding regions of the MCP genes in Dickeya. We hypothesized these regions harbor small non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs). Transcription start sites (TSSs) in these regions were identified using Cappable-seq. As well, biocomputational methods were used to identify potential promoters and terminators. The TSSs aligned well where transcription was detected via RNAseq in vitro and in planta. Transcription levels under both conditions were also detected using qRT-PCR. These results, as a whole, confirm that such intergenic regions are actively transcribed and present the appropriate features for regulatory sequences, like ncRNAs. Mutants lacking these regions have been created and are being tested for changes in motility and ability to cause disease. Using barcoded transposon mutant libraries, flagella-related proteins required for chemotaxis were found to be essen-tial for Dickeya’s growth in planta; further supporting the importance of chemotaxis during infection. Our results contribute to understanding the regulatory mechanisms Dickeya uses in planta and might provide targets for disease control.