Amb motiu del tancament d'estiu, la validació de documents es reprendrà a partir del 28 d'agost de 2026. Disculpeu les molèsties.
Con motivo del cierre de verano, la validación de documentos se reanudará a partir del 28 de agosto de 2026. Disculpad las molestias
Due to the summer closure, document validation will resume starting August 28, 2026. We apologize for any inconvenience.

Files

707622.pdf (1.88 MB)

Document type

Article

Version

Published version

Publication date

2020-03-01

Publication license

cc-by (c) Corral, Jordi et al., 2020
Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/2445/175115

Twitching and swimming motility play a role in Ralstonia solanacearum pathogenicity

Journal Title

Authors

Director/Tutor

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Related resource

https://doi.org/10.1128/mSphere.00740-19

Abstract

Ralstonia solanacearum is a bacterial plant pathogen causing important economic losses worldwide. In addition to the polar flagella responsible for swimming motility, this pathogen produces type IV pili (TFP) that govern twitching motility, a flagellum-independent movement on solid surfaces. The implication of chemotaxis in plant colonization, through the control flagellar rotation by the proteins CheW and CheA, has been previously reported in R. solanacearum. In this work, we have identified in this bacterium homologues of the Pseudomonas aeruginosa pilI and chpA genes, suggested to play roles in TFP-associated motility analogous to those played by the cheW and cheA genes, respectively. We demonstrate that R. solanacearum strains with a deletion of the pilI or the chpA coding region show normal swimming and chemotaxis but altered biofilm formation and reduced twitching motility, transformation efficiency, and root attachment. Furthermore, these mutants displayed wild-type growth in planta and impaired virulence on tomato plants after soil-drench inoculations but not when directly applied to the xylem. Comparison with deletion mutants for pilA and fliC encoding the major pilin and flagellin subunits, respectively showed that both twitching and swimming are required for plant colonization and full virulence. This work proves for the first time the functionality of a pilus-mediated pathway encoded by pil-chp genes in R. solanacearum, demonstrating that pilI and chpA genes are bona fide motility regulators controlling twitching motility and its three related phenotypes: virulence, natural transformation, and biofilm formation.

Subject

Bacteris patògens, Plantes

Subject (English)

Pathogenic bacteria, Plants

Citation

Collections

Articles publicats en revistes (Genètica, Microbiologia i Estadística)

Citation

CORRAL, Jordi, et al. Twitching and swimming motility play a role in Ralstonia solanacearum pathogenicity. mSphere. 2020. Vol. 5, num. 2. ISSN 2379-5042. [consulted: 10 of August of 2026]. Available at: https://hdl.handle.net/2445/175115

Export metadata

JSON - METS

Share record