Extracellular Amylase Is Required for Full Virulence and Regulated by the Global Posttranscriptional Regulator RsmA in Xanthomonas campestris Pathovar campestris

As with many phytopathogenic bacteria, the virulence of Xanthomonas campestris pv. campestris, the causal agent of black rot disease in cruciferous plants, relies on secretion of a suite of extracellular enzymes that includes cellulase (endoglucanase), pectinase, protease, and amylase. Although the role in virulence of a number of these enzymes has been assessed, the contribution of amylase to X. campestris pv. campestris virulence has yet to be established. In this work, we investigated both the role of extracellular amylase in X. campestris pv. campestris virulence and the control of its expression. Deletion of XC3487 (here renamed amyA(XCC)), a putative amylase-encoding gene from the genome of X. campestris pv. campestris strain 8004, resulted in a complete loss of extracellular amylase activity and significant reduction in virulence. The extracellular amylase activity and virulence of the amyA(XCC) mutant could be restored to the wild-type level by expressing amyA(XCC) in trans. These results demonstrated that amyA(XCC), is responsible for the extracellular amylase activity of X. campestris pv. campestris and indicated that extracellular amylase plays an important role in X. campestris pv. campestris virulence. We also found that the expression of amyA(XCC) is strongly induced by starch and requires activation by the global posttranscriptional regulator RsmA. RsmA binds specifically to the 5'-untranslated region of amyA(XCC) transcripts, suggesting that RsmA regulates amyA(XCC) directly at the posttranscriptional level. Unexpectedly, in addition to posttranscriptional regulation, the use of a transcriptional reporter demonstrated that RsmA also regulates amyA(XCC) expression at the transcriptional level, possibly by an indirect mechanism.

Automated summary

The research unveiled the crucial role of extracellular amylase in the virulence of Xanthomonas campestris pv. campestris. They found that amyA(XCC) is responsible for controlling the activity of extracellular amylase, which is induced by starch and regulated by the posttranscriptional regulator RsmA. Additionally, RsmA also plays a role in regulating the expression of amyA(XCC) at the transcriptional level, potentially through an indirect mechanism.