Open Access
Expression of the gene for resistance to phaseolotoxin (argK) depends on the activity of genes phtABC in Pseudomonas syringae pv. Phaseolicola
(Public Library of Science, 2012) Aguilera, Selene; Torre Zavala, Susana de la; Hernández Flores, José Luis; Murillo Martínez, Jesús; Bravo, Jaime; Álvarez Morales, Ariel; Producción Agraria; Nekazaritza Ekoizpena
The bacterium Pseudomonas syringae pv. phaseolicola produces phaseolotoxin in a temperature dependent manner, being optimally produced between 18 degrees C and 20 degrees C, while no detectable amounts are present above 28 degrees C. Phaseolotoxin is an effective inhibitor of ornithine carbamoyltransferase (OCTase) activity from plant, mammalian and bacterial sources and causes a phenotypic requirement for arginine. To protect the cell from its own toxin, P. syringae pv. phaseolicola synthesizes a phaseolotoxin-resistant OCTase (ROCT). The ROCT is the product of the argK gene and is synthesized only under conditions leading to phaseolotoxin synthesis. The argK gene is included in a chromosomal fragment named Pht cluster, which contains genes involved in the synthesis of phaseolotoxin. The aim of the present work was to investigate the possible involvement of other genes included in the Pht cluster in the regulation of gene argK. We conducted transcriptional analyses of argK in several mutants unable to produce phaseolotoxin, transcriptional fusions and electrophoretic mobility shift assays, which allowed us to determine that genes phtABC, located within the Pht cluster, participate in the transcriptional repression of gene argK at temperatures not permissive for phaseolotoxin biosynthesis. This repression is mediated by a protein present in both toxigenic and nontoxigenic strains of P. syringae and in E. coli, and requires the coordinated participation of phtA, phtB and phtC products in order to carry out an efficient argK repression.
Open Access
Two homologues of the global regulator Csr/Rsm redundantly control phaseolotoxin biosynthesis and virulence in the plant pathogen Pseudomonas amygdali pv. phaseolicola 1448A
(MDPI, 2020) Ramírez Zapata, Diana; Ramos, Cayo; Aguilera, Selene; Bardají Goikoetxea, Leire; Martínez Gil, Marta; Murillo Martínez, Jesús; Institute for Multidisciplinary Research in Applied Biology - IMAB
The widely conserved Csr/Rsm (carbon storage regulator/repressor of stationary-phase metabolites) post-transcriptional regulatory system controls diverse phenotypes involved in bacterial pathogenicity and virulence. Here we show that Pseudomonas amygdali pv. phaseolicola 1448A contains seven rsm genes, four of which are chromosomal. In RNAseq analyses, only rsmE was thermoregulated, with increased expression at 18 °C, whereas the antagonistic sRNAs rsmX1, rsmX4, rsmX5 and rsmZ showed increased levels at 28 °C. Only double rsmA-rsmE mutants showed significantly altered phenotypes in functional analyses, being impaired for symptom elicitation in bean, including in planta growth, and for induction of the hypersensitive response in tobacco. Double mutants were also non-motile and were compromised for the utilization of different carbon sources. These phenotypes were accompanied by reduced mRNA levels of the type III secretion system regulatory genes hrpL and hrpA, and the flagellin gene, fliC. Biosynthesis of the phytotoxin phaseolotoxin by mutants in rsmA and rsmE was delayed, occurring only in older cultures, indicating that these rsm homologues act as inductors of toxin synthesis. Therefore, genes rsmA and rsmE act redundantly, although with a degree of specialization, to positively regulate diverse phenotypes involved in niche colonization. Additionally, our results suggest the existence of a regulatory molecule different from the Rsm proteins and dependent on the GacS/GacA (global activator of antibiotic and cyanide production) system, which causes the repression of phaseolotoxin biosynthesis at high temperatures.
Open Access
The Pbo cluster from Pseudomonas syringae pv. phaseolicola NPS3121 is thermoregulated and required for phaseolotoxin biosynthesis
(MDPI, 2021) Guardado-Valdivia, Lizeth; Chacón-López, Alejandra; Murillo Martínez, Jesús; Poveda Arias, Jorge; Hernández Flores, José Luis; Xoca-Orozco, Luis; Aguilera, Selene; Institute for Multidisciplinary Research in Applied Biology - IMAB
The bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) pathogen Pseudomonas syringae pv. phaseolicola NPS3121 synthe-sizes phaseolotoxin in a thermoregulated way, with optimum production at 18 °C. Gene PSPPH_4550 was previously shown to be thermoregulated and required for phaseolotoxin bio-synthesis. Here, we established that PSPPH_4550 is part of a cluster of 16 genes, the Pbo cluster, included in a genomic island with a limited distribution in P. syringae and unrelated to the posses-sion of the phaseolotoxin biosynthesis cluster. We identified typical non-ribosomal peptide syn-thetase, and polyketide synthetase domains in several of the pbo deduced products. RT-PCR and the analysis of polar mutants showed that the Pbo cluster is organized in four transcriptional units, including one monocistronic and three polycistronic. Operons pboA and pboO are both es-sential for phaseolotoxin biosynthesis, while pboK and pboJ only influence the amount of toxin produced. The three polycistronic units were transcribed at high levels at 18 °C but not at 28 °C, whereas gene pboJ was constitutively expressed. Together, our data suggest that the Pbo cluster synthesizes secondary metabolite(s), which could participate in the regulation of phaseolotoxin biosynthesis.
Open Access
Functional characterization of the gene cluster from Pseudomonas syringae pv. phaseolicola NPS3121 involved in synthesis of phaseolotoxin
(American Society for Microbiology, 2007) Aguilera, Selene; López-López, Karina; Nieto, Yudith; Garcidueñas-Piña, Rogelio; Hernández-Guzmán, Gustavo; Hernández Flores, José Luis; Murillo Martínez, Jesús; Álvarez Morales, Ariel; Producción Agraria; Nekazaritza Ekoizpena
Pseudomonas syringae pv. phaseolicola is the causal agent of halo blight disease of beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.), which is characterized by water-soaked lesions surrounded by a chlorotic halo resulting from the action of a non-host-specific toxin known as phaseolotoxin. This phytotoxin inhibits the enzyme ornithine carbamoyltransferase involved in arginine biosynthesis. Different evidence suggested that genes involved in phaseolotoxin production were clustered. Two genes had been previously identified in our laboratory within this cluster: argK, which is involved in the immunity of the bacterium to its own toxin, and amtA, which is involved in the synthesis of homoarginine. We sequenced the region around argK and amtA in P. syringae pv. phaseolicola NPS3121 to determine the limits of the putative phaseolotoxin gene cluster and to determine the transcriptional pattern of the genes comprising it. We report that the phaseolotoxin cluster (Pht cluster) is composed of 23 genes and is flanked by insertion sequences and transposases. The mutation of 14 of the genes within the cluster lead to a Tox− phenotype for 11 of them, while three mutants exhibited low levels of toxin production. The analysis of fusions of selected DNA fragments to uidA, Northern probing, and reverse transcription-PCR indicate the presence of five transcriptional units, two monocistronic and three polycistronic; one is internal to a larger operon. The site for transcription initiation has been determined for each promoter, and the putative promoter regions were identified. Preliminary results also indicate that the gene product of phtL is involved in the regulation of the synthesis of phaseolotoxin.
Open Access
Temperature-mediated biosynthesis of the phytotoxin phaseolotoxin by Pseudomonas syringae pv. phaseolicola depends on the autoregulated expression of the phtABC genes
(Public Library of Science, 2017) Aguilera, Selene; Álvarez Morales, Ariel; Murillo Martínez, Jesús; Hernández Flores, José Luis; Bravo, Jaime; Torre Zavala, Susana de la; Producción Agraria; Nekazaritza Ekoizpena
Pseudomonas syringae pv. phaseolicola produces phaseolotoxin in a temperature dependent manner, being optimally synthesized between 18ºC and 20ºC, while no detectable amounts are present above 28ºC. The Pht cluster, involved in the biosynthesis of phaseolotoxin, contains 23 genes that are organized in five transcriptional units. The function of most of the genes from the Pht cluster is still unknown and little information about the regulatory circuitry leading to expression of these genes has been reported. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the participation of pht genes in the regulation of the operons coded into the Pht cluster. We conducted Northern blot, uidA fusions and reverse transcription- PCR assays of pht genes in several mutants unable to produce phaseolotoxin. This allowed us to determine that, in P. syringae pv. phaseolicola NPS3121, genes phtABC are essential to prevent their own expression at 28ºC, a temperature at which no detectable amounts of the toxin are present. We obtained evidence that the phtABC genes also participate in the regulation of the phtD, phtM and phtL operons. According to our results, we propose that PhtABC and other Pht product activities could be involved in the synthesis of the sulfodiaminophosphinyl moiety of phaseolotoxin, which indirectly could be involved in the transcriptional regulation of the phtA operon.