Pantoea ananatis utilizes a type VI secretion system for pathogenesis and bacterial competition
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Date
Authors
Shyntum, Divine Yufetar
Theron, Jacques
Venter, S.N. (Stephanus Nicolaas)
Moleleki, Lucy Novungayo
Toth, Ian K.
Coutinho, Teresa A.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
American Phytopathological Society
Abstract
Type VI secretion systems (T6SSs) are a class of macromolecular machines that are
recognized as an important virulence mechanism in several Gram-negative bacteria. The
genome of Pantoea ananatis LMG 2665T , a pathogen of pineapple fruit and onion plants, carries two gene clusters whose predicted products have homology with T6SS-associated gene products from other bacteria. Nothing is known regarding the role of these T6SS-1 and T6SS-3 gene clusters in the biology of P. ananatis. Here, we present evidence that T6SS-1
plays an important role in the pathogenicity of P. ananatis LMG 2665T in onion plants, while
a strain lacking T6SS-3 remains as pathogenic as the wild-type strain. We also investigated the role of the T6SS-1 system in bacterial competition, the results of which indicated that
several bacteria compete less efficiently against wild-type LMG 2665T than a strain lacking
T6SS-1. Additionally, we demonstrated that these phenotypes of strain LMG 2665T were reliant on the core T6SS products TssA and TssD (Hcp), thus indicating that the T6SS-1 gene cluster encodes a functioning T6SS. Collectively, our data provides the first evidence
demonstrating that the T6SS-1 system is a virulence determinant of P. ananatis LMG 2665T and plays a role in bacterial competition.
Description
Keywords
Pantoea ananatis, VI Secretion system, Pathogenesis, Bacterial
Sustainable Development Goals
Citation
Shyntum, DY, Theron, J, Venter, SN, Moleleki, LN, Toth, IK & Coutinho, TA 2015, 'Pantoea ananatis utilizes a type VI secretion system for pathogenesis and bacterial competition', Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions, pp. 1-46.