A functional screen for the type III (Hrp) secretome of the plant pathogen Pseudomonas syringae

Science. 2002 Mar 1;295(5560):1722-6. doi: 10.1126/science.295.5560.1722.

Abstract

Type III secreted "effector" proteins of bacterial pathogens play central roles in virulence, yet are notoriously difficult to identify. We used an in vivo genetic screen to identify 13 effectors secreted by the type III apparatus (called Hrp, for "hypersensitive response and pathogenicity") of the plant pathogen Pseudomonas syringae. Although sharing little overall homology, the amino-terminal regions of these effectors had strikingly similar amino acid compositions. This feature facilitated the bioinformatic prediction of 38 P. syringae effectors, including 15 previously unknown proteins. The secretion of two of these putative effectors was shown to be type III--dependent. Effectors showed high interstrain variation, supporting a role for some effectors in adaptation to different hosts.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Amino Acids / analysis
  • Arabidopsis / genetics
  • Arabidopsis / metabolism
  • Arabidopsis / microbiology*
  • Arabidopsis Proteins*
  • Bacterial Proteins / chemistry
  • Bacterial Proteins / genetics*
  • Bacterial Proteins / metabolism*
  • Computational Biology
  • DNA Transposable Elements
  • Genes, Bacterial*
  • Genomics
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Plant Proteins / metabolism
  • Promoter Regions, Genetic
  • Proteome
  • Pseudomonas / genetics*
  • Pseudomonas / metabolism*
  • Pseudomonas / pathogenicity
  • Recombinant Fusion Proteins / metabolism
  • Virulence

Substances

  • Amino Acids
  • Arabidopsis Proteins
  • Bacterial Proteins
  • DNA Transposable Elements
  • Plant Proteins
  • Proteome
  • RPS2 protein, Arabidopsis
  • Recombinant Fusion Proteins
  • avrRpt2 protein, Pseudomonas syringae