RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 A Volatile Signal Controls Virulence in the Plant Pathogen <em>Pseudomonas syringae</em> pv. <em>syringae</em> and a Strategy for Infection Control in Organic Farming
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 2020.09.18.279364
DO 10.1101/2020.09.18.279364
A1 Simon Sieber
A1 Anugraha Mathew
A1 Christian Jenul
A1 Tobias Kohler
A1 Max Bär
A1 Víctor J. Carrión
A1 Francisco M. Cazorla
A1 Urs Stalder
A1 Ya-Chu Hsieh
A1 Laurent Bigler
A1 Leo Eberl
A1 Karl Gademann
YR 2020
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2020/09/18/2020.09.18.279364.abstract
AB Pseudomonas syringae is an important pathogen of many agriculturally valuable crops. Among the various pathovars described P. syringae pv. syringae (Pss) has a particularly wide host range, infecting primarily woody and herbaceous host plants. The ability of Pss to cause bacterial apical necrosis of mango trees is dependent on the production of the antimetabolite toxin mangotoxin. The production of this toxin was shown to be regulated by a self-produced signaling molecule. In this study, we determined the structure of the Pss signal molecule belonging to the recently described family of diazeniumdiolate communication molecules. Employing a targeted mass spectrometry-based approach, we provide experimental evidence that the major signal produced by Pss is the volatile compound leudiazen, which controls mangotoxin production and virulence in a detached tomato leaflet infection model. Experimental results demonstrate that KMnO4 solution inactivates leudiazen and that treatment of infected leaves with KMnO4 abolishes necrosis. This strategy represents the first example of chemically degrading a signaling molecule to interfere with bacterial communication. The application of KMnO4 solution, which is regulatorily approved in organic farming, may constitute an environmentally friendly strategy to control Pss infections.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.