The hrp genes of the plant pathogen Ralstonia solanacearum are key pathogenicity determinants; they encode a type III protein secretion machinery involved in the secretion of mediators of the bacterium±plant interaction. These hrp genes are under the genetic control of the hrpB regulatory gene, expression of which is induced when bacteria are co-cultivated with plant cell suspensions. In this study, we used hrp±gfp transcriptional fusions to demonstrate that the expression of the hrpB and type III secretion genes is specifically induced in response to the bacterium±plant cell contact. This contact-dependent induction of hrpB gene expression requires the outer membrane protein PrhA, but not a functional type III secretion apparatus. Genetic evidence indicates that PrhA constitutes the ®rst example of a bacterial receptor for a non-diffusible signal present in the plant cell wall and which triggers the transcriptional activation of bacterial virulence genes.

SummaryThe Ralstonia solanacearum hrp gene cluster is organized in five transcriptional units. Expression of transcriptional units 2, 3 and 4 is induced in minimal medium and depends on the hrp regulatory gene hrpB, which belongs to unit 1. This regulatory gene also controls the expression of genes, such as popA, located to the left of the hrp cluster. Here, we show that, upon co-culture with Arabidopsis thaliana and tomato cell suspensions, the expression of the hrp transcriptional units 1, 2, 3 and 4 is induced 10-to 20-fold more than in minimal medium. This induction is not triggered by diffusible signals but requires the presence of plant cells. Moreover, we show that this specific plant cell induction of hrp genes is controlled by a gene, called prhA (plant regulator of hrp genes), located next to popA. This gene codes for a putative protein of 770 amino acids, which shows similarities with TonB-dependent outer membrane siderophore receptors. Expression of prhA and hrp genes is not regulated by iron status, and we postulate that iron is not the signal sensed by PrhA. In prhA mutants, the induction of hrpB and other hrp genes is abolished in co-culture with Arabidopsis cells, partially reduced in co-culture with tomato cells and not modified in minimal medium. prhA mutants are hypoaggressive on Arabidopsis (accessions Col-0 and Col-5) but remain fully pathogenic on tomato plants, suggesting that the co-culture assays mimic the in planta conditions. A model suggesting that PrhA is a receptor for plant specific signals at the top of a novel hrp regulatory pathway is discussed.

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Rhizobium leguminosarum bv. viciae expresses an uptake hydrogenase in symbiosis with peas (Pisum sativum) but, unlike all other characterized hydrogenoxidizing bacteria, cannot express it in free-living conditions. The hydrogenase-specific transcriptional activator gene hoxA described in other species was shown to have been inactivated in R. leguminosarum by accumulation of frameshift and deletion mutations. Symbiotic transcription of hydrogenase structural genes hupSL originates from a ؊24͞؊12 type promoter (hupS p ). A regulatory region located in the ؊173 to ؊88 region was essential for promoter activity in R. leguminosarum. Activation of hupS p was observed in Klebsiella pneumoniae and Escherichia coli cells expressing the K. pneumoniae nitrogen fixation regulator NifA, and in E. coli cells expressing R. meliloti NifA. This activation required direct interaction of NifA with the essential ؊173 to ؊88 regulatory region. However, no sequences resembling known NifA-binding sites were found in or around this region. NifA-dependent activation was also observed in R. etli bean bacteroids. NifAdependent hupS p activity in heterologous hosts was also absolutely dependent on the RpoN -factor and on integration host factor. Proteins immunologically related to integration host factor were identified in R. leguminosarum. The data suggest that hupS p is structurally and functionally similar to nitrogen fixation promoters. The requirement to coordinate nitrogenase-dependent H 2 production and H 2 oxidation in nodules might be the reason for the loss of HoxA in R. leguminosarum and the concomitant NifA control of hup gene expression. This evolutionary acquired control would ensure regulated synthesis of uptake hydrogenase in the most common H 2 -rich environment for rhizobia, the legume nodule.

hrp genes, encoding type III secretion machinery, have been shown to be key determinants for pathogenicity in the vascular phytopathogenic bacterium Ralstonia solanacearum GMI1000. Here, we show phenotypes of R. solanacearum mutant strains disrupted in the prhJ, hrpG, or hrpB regulatory genes with respect to root infection and vascular colonization in tomato plants. Tests of bacterial colonization and enumeration in tomato plants, together with microscopic observations of tomato root sections, revealed that these strains display different phenotypes in planta. The phenotype of a prhJ mutant resembles that of the wild-type strain. An hrpB mutant shows reduced infection, colonization, and multiplication ability in planta, and induces a defense reaction similar to a vascular hypersensitive response at one protoxylem pole of invaded plants. In contrast, the hrpG mutant exhibited a wild-type level of infection at secondary root axils, but the ability of the infecting bacteria to penetrate into the vascular cylinder was significantly impaired. This indicates that bacterial multiplication at root infection sites and transit through the endodermis constitute critical stages in the infection process, in which hrpB and hrpG genes are involved. Moreover, our results suggest that the hrpG gene might control, in addition to hrp genes, other functions required for vascular colonization.

Expression of several virulence factors in the plant pathogen bacterium Ralstonia solanacearum is controlled by a complex regulatory network, at the center of which is PhcA. We provide genetic evidence that PhcA also represses the expression of hrp genes that code for the Type III protein secretion system, a major pathogenicity determinant in this bacterium. The repression of hrp genes in complete medium is relieved in a phcA mutant and two distinct signals, a quorum-sensing signal and complex nitrogen sources, appear to trigger this PhcA-dependent repression. This control of hrp gene expression by PhcA is realized at the level of the HrpG regulatory protein.

Ralstonia solanacearum hrp genes encode a type III secretion system required for disease development in host plants and for hypersensitive response elicitation on non-hosts. hrp genes are expressed in the presence of plant cells through the HrpB regulator. This activation, which requires physical interaction between the bacteria and the plant cell, is sensed by the outer membrane receptor PrhA. PrhA transduces the plant cell contact-dependent signal through a complex regulatory cascade integrated by the PrhJ, HrpG, and HrpB regulators. In this study, we have identified two genes, named prhI and prhR, that belong to the hrp gene cluster and whose predicted products show homology with extracytoplasmic function sigma factors and transmembrane proteins, respectively. Strains carrying a mutation in prhIR show a delayed pathogenic phenotype toward host plants. PrhIR control the plant cell contact-dependent activation of hrp genes. prhIR gene expression is induced by a signal present in the plant cell coculture that is not PrhA-dependent. Genetic evidence shows that PrhIR act upstream of PrhJ in the regulatory cascade, likely transducing the signal sensed by PrhA through the periplasm as described for signal transfer systems through three compartments. This is the first report of such a surface signaling mechanism activating pathogenicity determinants in response to a nondiffusible plant cell wall signal.

Rhizobium leguminosarum bv. viciae UPM791 induces the synthesis of an [NiFe] hydrogenase in pea (Pisum sativum L.) bacteroids which oxidizes the H2 generated by the nitrogenase complex-inside the root nodules. The synthesis of this hydrogenase requires the genes for the small and large hydrogenase subunits (hupS and hupL, respectively) and 15 accessory genes clustered in a complex locus in the symbiotic plasmid. We show here that the bacteroid hydrogenase activity is limited by the availability of nickel to pea plants. Addition of Ni2+ to plant nutrient solutions (up to 10 mg/liter) resulted in sharp increases (up to 15-fold) in hydrogenase activity. This effect was not detected when other divalent cations (Zn2+, Co2+, Fe2+, and Mn2+) were added at the same concentrations. Determinations of the steady-state levels of hupSL-specific mRNA indicated that this increase in hydrogenase activity was not due to stimulation of transcription of structural genes. Immunoblot analysis with antibodies raised against the large and small subunits of the hydrogenase enzyme demonstrated that in the low-nickel situation, both subunits are mainly present in slow-migrating, unprocessed forms. Supplementation of the plant nutrient solution with increasing nickel concentrations caused the conversion of the slow-migrating forms of both subunits into fast-moving, mature forms. This nickel-dependent maturation process of the hydrogenase subunits is mediated by accessory gene products, since bacteroids from H2 uptake-deficient mutants carrying TnS insertions in hupG and hupK and in hypB and hypE accumulated the immature forms of both hydrogenase subunits even in the presence of high nickel levels.Most hydrogen uptake hydrogenases are membrane-bound, heterodimeric iron-sulfur proteins containing nickel ([NiFe] hydrogenases) (for reviews, see references 9, 37, and 46). Bacteria forming nodules on legume roots synthesize uptake hydrogenases which recycle the H2 evolved by nitrogenase in the nodules (5, 27) and contribute to the overall efficiency of the N2 fixation process (6). These bacteria include Rhizobium leguminosarum bv. viciae and Bradyrhizobium japonicum, the microsymbionts of peas and soybeans, respectively. The genetic determinants for H2 uptake (hup genes) in R. leguminosarum bv. viciae UPM791 are clustered in a 20-kb DNA region of the symbiotic plasmid and have been isolated in cosmid pAL618 (24). This cosmid has the capacity to confer H2 uptake activity on Hup-strains of R. leguminosarum bv. viciae and Rhizobium etli in symbiosis with peas and beans, respectively (25). The DNA region spanning the H2 uptake gene cluster has been sequenced, and 17 genes, closely linked and oriented in the same direction, were identified (15,38,40). The first two genes, hupS and hupL, encode the hydrogenase structural polypeptides (14). The predicted proteins for the small (360 amino acid residues, including a leader peptide of 45 residues) and the large (596 amino acid residues) subunits are homologous to the corresponding hydrogenase structur...