Journal
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES
Volume 22, Issue 9, Pages -Publisher
MDPI
DOI: 10.3390/ijms22094839
Keywords
Erwinia atroseptica; gene expression regulation; transposon; ecology; climate change
Funding
- Ministry of Science and Higher Education, Poland (Ministerstwo Nauki i Szkolnictwa Wyzszego, Polska) [0241/IP1/2013/72]
- Norway Grants in the Polish-Norwegian Research Programme [Pol-Nor/202448/28/2013]
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This study identified temperature-regulated genes in P. atrosepticum using transposon mutagenesis, uncovering their roles in bacterial metabolism, membrane-related proteins, fitness factors, and hypothetical proteins. Mutants showed alterations in bacterial generation time, biofilm formation, lipopolysaccharide production, and virulence on potato tuber slices, highlighting the impact of environmental temperature on the pathogen's ability to cause disease in potatoes.
Temperature is one of the critical factors affecting gene expression in bacteria. Despite the general interest in the link between bacterial phenotypes and environmental temperature, little is known about temperature-dependent gene expression in plant pathogenic Pectobacterium atrosepticum, a causative agent of potato blackleg and tuber soft rot worldwide. In this study, twenty-nine P. atrosepticum SCRI1043 thermoregulated genes were identified using Tn5-based transposon mutagenesis coupled with an inducible promotorless gusA gene as a reporter. From the pool of 29 genes, 14 were up-regulated at 18 degrees C, whereas 15 other genes were up-regulated at 28 degrees C. Among the thermoregulated loci, genes involved in primary bacterial metabolism, membrane-related proteins, fitness-corresponding factors, and several hypothetical proteins were found. The Tn5 mutants were tested for their pathogenicity in planta and for features that are likely to remain important for the pathogen to succeed in the (plant) environment. Five Tn5 mutants expressed visible phenotypes differentiating these mutants from the phenotype of the SCRI1043 wild-type strain. The gene disruptions in the Tn5 transposon mutants caused alterations in bacterial generation time, ability to form a biofilm, production of lipopolysaccharides, and virulence on potato tuber slices. The consequences of environmental temperature on the ability of P. atrosepticum to cause disease symptoms in potato are discussed.
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