A Pseudomonas syringae type III effector suppresses cell wall-based extracellular defense in susceptible Arabidopsis plants

• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1431173100
• Publication Date: 2003-07-08T19:18:15Z
• Authors: Paula Hauck; Roger Thilmony; Sheng Yang He
• Keywords: 0301 basic medicine; Arabidopsis Proteins; Gene Expression Profiling; Arabidopsis; Receptors, Cell Surface; Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial; Ethylenes; Plants, Genetically Modified; Dexamethasone; Mixed Function Oxygenases; DNA-Binding Proteins; 03 medical and health sciences; Bacterial Proteins; Cell Wall; Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; Pseudomonas; Disease Susceptibility; Salicylic Acid; Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins; Plant Diseases; Transcription Factors

Bacterial effector proteins secreted through the type III secretion system (TTSS) play a crucial role in causing plant and human diseases. Although the ability of type III effectors to trigger defense responses in resistant plants is well understood, the disease-promoting functions of type III effectors in susceptible plants are largely enigmatic. Previous microscopic studies suggest that in susceptible plants the TTSS of plant-pathogenic bacteria transports suppressors of a cell wall-based plant defense activated by the TTSS-defective hrp mutant bacteria. However, the identity of such suppressors has remained elusive. We discovered that the Pseudomonas syringae TTSS down-regulated the expression of a set of Arabidopsis genes encoding putatively secreted cell wall and defense proteins in a salicylic acid-independent manner. Transgenic expression of AvrPto repressed a similar set of host genes, compromised defense-related callose deposition in the host cell wall, and permitted substantial multiplication of an hrp mutant. AvrPto is therefore one of the long postulated suppressors of an salicylic acid-independent, cell wall-based defense that is aimed at hrp mutant bacteria.