Characterization of pilP, a gene required for twitching motility, pathogenicity, and biofilm formation of Acidovorax avenae subsp. avenae RS-1

The Gram-negative bacterium Acidovorax avenae subsp. avenae is the causal agent of bacterial brown stripe (BBS), which can cause severe diseases in many plants, including rice, with huge economic importance. Type IV pili (TFP) are hair-like appendages involved in several bacterial activities such as...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:European journal of plant pathology 2012-11, Vol.134 (3), p.551-560
Main Authors: Liu, He, Tian, Wen-Xiao, Ibrahim, Muhammad, Li, Bin, Zhang, Guo-Qing, Zhu, Bo, Xie, Guan-Lin
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acidovorax
Acidovorax avenae subsp. avenae
Agriculture
Appendages
Bacteria
Bacteriology
biofilm
Biofilms
Biological and medical sciences
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Colonization
Ecology
Economic importance
economics
fimbriae
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
genes
Gram-negative bacteria
insertional mutagenesis
Life Sciences
Motility
mutants
Oryza sativa
Pathogenicity
Pathogens
Phytopathology. Animal pests. Plant and forest protection
Pili
Plant diseases
Plant Pathology
Plant Sciences
rice
transposon Tn5
transposons
Twitching
Virulence
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Summary:The Gram-negative bacterium Acidovorax avenae subsp. avenae is the causal agent of bacterial brown stripe (BBS), which can cause severe diseases in many plants, including rice, with huge economic importance. Type IV pili (TFP) are hair-like appendages involved in several bacterial activities such as bacterial surface motility, surface adherence, colonization, biofilm formation, and virulence. The aim of our study is to characterize the association of A. avenae subsp. avenae TFP with BBS in rice. We generated a transposon (Tn5) mutant library. Then, an insertional mutagenesis on the background of this bacterium was identified as reduced pathogenicity. The confirmed inserted genetic region was into gene pilP, which encodes a TFP assembly protein. The pilP-deficient mutant strain seriously affected the motility twitching ability, biofilm formation and virulence. Collectively, our results clearly indicated that the pilP gene and TFP in A. avenae subsp. avenae play a key role in plant pathogenicity, twitching motility, and biofilm formation.
ISSN:0929-1873
1573-8469
DOI:10.1007/s10658-012-0038-x