The bacterial plant pathogen Pseudomonas syringae causes disease in a wide range of plants. The associated decrease in crop yields results in economic losses and threatens global food security. Competition exists between the plant immune system and the pathogen, the basic principles of which can be applied to animal infection pathways. P. syringae uses a type III secretion system (T3SS) to deliver virulence factors into the plant that promote survival of the bacterium. The P. syringae T3SS is a product of the hypersensitive response and pathogenicity (hrp) and hypersensitive response and conserved (hrc) gene cluster, which is strictly controlled by the codependent enhancer-binding proteins HrpR and HrpS. Through a combination of bacterial gene regulation and phenotypic studies, plant infection assays, and plant hormone quantifications, we now report that Chp8 (i) is embedded in the Hrp regulon and expressed in response to plant signals and HrpRS, (ii) is a functional diguanylate cyclase, (iii) decreases the expression of the major pathogen-associated molecular pattern (PAMP) flagellin and increases extracellular polysaccharides (EPS), and (iv) impacts the salicylic acid/jasmonic acid hormonal immune response and disease progression. We propose that Chp8 expression dampens PAMP-triggered immunity during early plant infection.

The type III secretion system (T3SS) is a principal virulence determinant of the model bacterial plant pathogen Pseudomonas syringae. T3SS effector proteins inhibit plant defense signaling pathways in susceptible hosts and elicit evolved immunity in resistant plants. The extracytoplasmic function sigma factor HrpL coordinates the expression of most T3SS genes. Transcription of hrpL is dependent on sigma-54 and the codependent enhancer binding proteins HrpR and HrpS for hrpL promoter activation. hrpL is oriented adjacently to and divergently from the HrpL-dependent gene hrpJ, sharing an intergenic upstream regulatory region. We show that association of the RNA polymerase (RNAP)-HrpL complex with the hrpJ promoter element imposes negative autogenous control on hrpL transcription in P. syringae pv. tomato DC3000. The hrpL promoter was upregulated in a ΔhrpL mutant and was repressed by plasmid-borne hrpL. In a minimal Escherichia coli background, the activity of HrpL was sufficient to achieve repression of reconstituted hrpL transcription. This repression was relieved if both the HrpL DNA-binding function and the hrp-box sequence of the hrpJ promoter were compromised, implying dependence upon the hrpJ promoter. DNA-bound RNAP-HrpL entirely occluded the HrpRS and partially occluded the integration host factor (IHF) recognition elements of the hrpL promoter in vitro, implicating inhibition of DNA binding by these factors as a cause of negative autogenous control. A modest increase in the HrpL concentration caused hypersecretion of the HrpA1 pilus protein but intracellular accumulation of later T3SS substrates. We argue that negative feedback on HrpL activity fine-tunes expression of the T3SS regulon to minimize the elicitation of plant defenses.

The plant pathogen Pseudomonas syringae pv.tomato (DC3000) causes virulence by delivering effector proteins into host plant cells through its type three secretion system (T3SS). In response to the plant environment DC3000 expresses hypersensitive response and pathogenicity genes (hrp). Pathogenesis depends on the ability of the pathogen to manipulate the plant metabolism and to inhibit plant immunity, which depends to a large degree on the plant's capacity to recognize both pathogen and microbial determinants (PAMP/MAMP-triggered immunity). We have developed and employed MS-based shotgun and targeted proteomics to (i) elucidate the extracellular and secretome composition of DC3000 and (ii) evaluate temporal features of the assembly of the T3SS and the secretion process together with its dependence of pH. The proteomic screen, under hrp inducing in vitro conditions, of extracellular and cytoplasmatic fractions indicated the segregated presence of not only T3SS implicated proteins such as HopP1, HrpK1, HrpA1 and AvrPto1, but also of proteins not usually associated with the T3SS or with pathogenicity. Using multiple reaction monitoring MS (MRM-MS) to quantify HrpA1 and AvrPto1, we found that HrpA1 is rapidly expressed, at a strict pH-dependent rate and is post-translationally processed extracellularly. These features appear to not interfere with rapid AvrPto1 expression and secretion but may suggest some temporal post-translational regulatory mechanism of the T3SS assembly. The high specificity and sensitivity of the MRM-MS approach should provide a powerful tool to measure secretion and translocation in infected tissues.

Aims Dianthus caryophyllus is a commercially important ornamental flower. Plant growth promoting rhizobacteria are increasingly applied as bio-fertilisers and bio-fortifiers. We studied the effect of a rhizospheric isolate Klebsiella SGM 81 strain to promote D. caryophyllus growth under sterile and non-sterile conditions, to colonise its root system endophytically and its impact on the cultivatable microbial community. We identified the auxin indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) production of Klebsiella SGM 81 as major bacterial trait most likely to enhance growth of D. caryophyllus. Methods ipdC dependent IAA production of SGM 81 was quantified using LC-MS/MS and localised proximal to D. caryophyllus roots and correlated to root growth promotion and characteristic morphological changes. SGM 81 cells were localised on and within the plant root using 3D rendering confocal microscopy of gfp expressing SGM 81. Using Salkowski reagent IAA production was quantified and localised proximal to roots in situ. The effect of different bacterial titres on rhizosphere bacterial population was CFU enumerated on nutrient agar. The genome sequence of Klebsiella SGM 81 (accession number PRJEB21197) was determined to validate PGP traits and phylogenic relationships. Results Inoculation of D. caryophyllus roots with Klebsiella SGM 81 drastically promoted plant growth when grown in agar and soil, concomitant with a burst in root hair formation, suggesting an increase in root auxin activity. We sequenced the Klebsiella SGM 81 genome, identified the presence of a canonical ipdC gene in Klebsiella SGM 81, confirmed bacterial production and secretion of IAA in batch culture using LC-MS/ MS and localised plant dependent IAA production by SGM 81 proximal to roots. We found Klebsiella SGM 81 to be a rhizoplane and endophytic coloniser of D. caryophyllus roots in a dose dependent manner. We found no adverse effects of SGM 81 on the overall rhizospheric microbial population unless supplied to soil in very high titres. Conclusion Klebsiella SGM 81 effectively improves root traits of D. caryophyllus in a dose dependent manner, likely through tryptophan dependent IAA production in the rhizoplane and potentially within the intercellular spaces of root tissue. Under optimal plant growth promoting conditions in non-sterile soil, the high total microbial titre in the rhizosphere supports a mutualistic relationship between Klebsiella SGM 81 and carnation that potentially extends to the wider rhizosphere microbiota.

The plant pathogen Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato DC3000 uses a type III secretion system (T3SS) to transfer effector proteins into the host. The expression of T3SS proteins is controlled by the HrpL σ factor. Transcription of hrpL is σ-dependent and bacterial enhancer-binding proteins HrpR and HrpS coactivate the hrpL promoter. The HrpV protein imposes negative control upon HrpR and HrpS through direct interaction with HrpS. HrpG interacts with HrpV and relieves such negative control. The sequence alignments across Hrp group I-type plant pathogens revealed conserved HrpV and HrpG amino acids. To establish structure-function relationships in HrpV and HrpG, either truncated or alanine substitution mutants were constructed. Key functional residues in HrpV and HrpG are found within their C-terminal regions. In HrpG, L101 and L105 are indispensable for the ability of HrpG to directly interact with HrpV and suppress HrpV-dependent negative regulation of HrpR and HrpS. In HrpV, L108 and G110 are major determinants for interactions with HrpS and HrpG. We propose that mutually exclusive binding of HrpS and HrpG to the same binding site of HrpV governs a transition from negative control to activation of the HrpRS complex leading to HrpL expression and pathogenicity of P. syringae.