• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.77-82
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• 2001

Erwinia amylovora causes a devastating disease called fire blight in rosaceous trees and shrubs such as apple, pear, and raspberry. To successfully infect its hosts, the pathogen requires a set of clustered genes termed hrp. Studies on the hrp system of E. amylovora indicated that it consists of three functional classes of genes. Regulation genes including hrpS, hrpS, hrpXY, and hrpL produce proteins that control the expression of other genes in the cluster. Secretion genes, many of which named hrc, encode proteins that may form a transmembrane complex, which is devoted to type III protein secretion. Finally, several genes encode the proteins that are delivered by the protein secretion apparatus. They include harpins, DspE, and other potential effector proteins that may contribute to proliferation of E. amylovora inside the hosts. Harpins are glycine-rich heat-stable elicitors of the hypersensitive response, and induce systemic acquired resistance. The pathogenicity protein DseE is homologous and functionally similar to an avirulence protein of Pseudomonas syringae. The region encompassing the hrpldsp gene cluster of E. amylovora shows features characteristic of a genomic island : a cryptic recombinase/integrase gene and a tRNA gene are present at one end and genes corresponding to those of the Escherichia coli K-12 chromosome are found beyond the region. This island, designated the Hrp pathogenicity island, is more than 60 kilobases in size and carries as many as 60 genes.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Life Science Conference
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• 2008.10a
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• pp.72.2-72.2
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• 2008

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.227-234
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• 2011

The hrp gene cluster in the plant pathogen Pseudomonas syringae is a key determinant of pathogenicity. Recent studies have demonstrated that specific host cell induction of the Ralstonia solanacearum hrp gene cluster is controlled by the PrhA (plant regulator of hrp) receptor. To characterize the role that P. syringae PrhA plays in the virulence of plant cells, a prhA homolog was isolated from P. syringae pv. tabaci and a $\Delta$prhA mutant was constructed by allelic exchange. The $\Delta$prhA mutant had reduced virulence in the host plant, and co-culture of P. syringae pv. tabaci and plant cell suspensions induced a much higher level of hrpA gene transcription than culture in hrp-inducing minimal medium. These results indicate that PrhA of P. syringae is a putative pathogen-plant cell contact sensor, therefore, we used a hrpA-gfp reporter fusion to monitor the in situ expression of PrhA. The results of this study demonstrated that PrhA induces hrp gene expression in P. syringae pv. tabaci in the presence of plant cells.

• Research in Plant Disease
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.111-120
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• 2011

A bacterial artificial chromosome library of Pectobacterium carotovorum 35 was constructed to characterize the genome and to sequence its hrp region. The hrp cluster of P. carotovorum 35 consisted of 26 open reading frames in five operons. A promoter-based green fluorescent protein technology was used to identify the genes regulated by the alternative sigma factor, HrpL, in P. carotovorum 35. The majority of the selected clones contained the hrpJ operon promoter sequence, which harbors a hrp box, but no putative hrp boxes were detected within the promoter sequences of two other hrpL-regulated genes encoding for pectate lyase and large repetitive protein. Although the promoters of five other hrp operons also contained hrp boxes, their expression was not HrpL-dependent in the promoter-based selection in E. coli. However, transcriptional analysis showed that expression from all operons harboring hrp boxes, except for the hrpN operon, was reduced significantly in the hrpL mutant. The severity of soft-rot symptoms when the hrpL mutant was applied to the surface of tobacco leaves, mimicking natural infection, was greatly attenuated. These results indicate that the hrpL gene of P. carotovorum 35 may be involved in the development of soft-rot symptoms.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.36 no.6
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• pp.608-617
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• 2020

The type III secretion system (T3SS) is a key virulence determinant in the infection process of Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato DC3000 (Pst DC3000). Pathogen constructs a type III apparatus to translocate effector proteins into host cells, which have various roles in pathogenesis. 4-Hydroxybenozic acid and vanillic acid were identified from root extract of Sedum middendorffianum to have inhibitory effect on promoter activity of hrpA gene encoding the structural protein of the T3SS apparatus. The phenolic acids at 2.5 mM significantly suppressed the expression of hopP1, hrpA, and hrpL in the hrp/hrc gene cluster without growth retardation of Pst DC3000. Auto-agglutination of Pst DC3000 cells, which is induced by T3SS, was impaired by the treatment of 4-hydroxybenzoic acid and vanillic acid. Additionally, 2.5 mM of each two phenolic acids attenuated disease symptoms including chlorosis surrounding bacterial specks on tomato leaves. Our results suggest that 4-hydroxybenzoic acid and vanillic acid are potential anti-virulence agents suppressing T3SS of Pst DC3000 for the control of bacterial diseases.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.362.2-362
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• 2001

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Life Science Conference
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• 2007.10a
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• pp.46.1-46.1
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• 2007

See Full Text

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Plant Pathology Conference
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• 2004.10a
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• pp.65-67
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• 2004

During initial interactions of bacteria with their host plants, most plants recognize the bacterial infections and repel the pathogen by plant defense mechanism. The most active plant defense mechanism is the hypersensitive response (HR) which is the localized induced cell death in the plant at the site of infection by a pathogen. A primary locus induced in gram-negative phytopathogenic bacteria during this initial interaction is the Hrp locus. The Hrp locus is composed of a cluster of genes that encodes the bacteral Type 111 machinery that is involved in the secretion and translocation of effector proteins to the plant cell. DNA sequence analysis of hrp gene in phytopathogenic bacteria has revealed a Hrp pathogenicity is]and (PAI) with a tripartite mosaic structure. For many gram-negative pathogenic bacteria, colonization of the host's tissue depends on the type III protein secretion system (TTSS) which secrets and translocates effector proteins into the host cell. Effectors can be divided into several groups including broad host range effectors, host specific effectors, disease specific effectors, and effectors inhibit host defenses. The role of effectors carrying LRR domain in plant resistance is very elusive since most known plant resistance gene carry LRR domain. Host specific effectors such as several avr gene products are involved in the determination of the host specificity. Almost all the phytopathogenic Xanthomonas spp. carry avrBs1, avrBs2, and avrBs3 homologs. Some strains of X. oryzae pv. oryzae carry more than 10 copies of avrBs3 homologs. However, the functions of all those avr genes in host specificity are not characterized well.;

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.374.4-374
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• 2001

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Life Science Conference
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• 2006.09a
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• pp.52.1-52.1
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• 2006