A new paper from the Jeff Anderson Lab titled "Ancient co-option of an amino acid ABC transporter locus in Pseudomonas syringae for host signal-dependent virulence gene regulation" is out in PLOS Pathogens. You can read the open access article here.
Author summary
Compared to well-established models of plant immunity, little is known about how plant pathogenic microorganisms detect their hosts to deploy virulence factors. Here we identify a two-component system AauS-AauR in the plant pathogenic bacterium Pseudomonas syringae that links perception of specific plant-exuded amino acids directly to regulation of genes encoding a virulence-promoting type III secretion system. AauS-AauR also functions in amino acid transport and is present in non-pathogenic pseudomonads, indicating that P. syringae has repurposed this pathway for virulence. Comparative genomics suggests that all pathogenic P. syringae rely on AauS-AauR signaling for T3SS deployment during infection. Therefore, future efforts to inhibit this pathway may be an effective strategy to curb diseases caused by P. syringae across its broad host range.
Read the full article at PLOS Pathogens.