Versatile persistence pathways for pathogens of animals and plants.

The glyoxylate cycle and the glycine cleavage system are part of conserved metabolic pathways involved in the chronic persistence of microorganisms in animal hosts. In the chromosome of the plant pathogen Rhodococcus fascians, the vic locus has been identified as a region containing genes essential for persistence inside induced leafy galls. Sequence analysis showed that this 18-kb locus is syntenic with chromosomal regions of Mycobacterium species that encompass the 'persistence' loci of these mammalian pathogens.

Use of the Verrucomicrobia-specific probe EUB338-III and fluorescent in situ hybridization for detection of "Candidatus Xiphinematobacter" cells in nematode hosts.

Fluorescent in situ hybridization with a 16S rRNA probe specific for Verrucomicrobia was used to (i) confirm the division-level identity of and (ii) study the behavior of the obligate intracellular verrucomicrobium "Candidatus Xiphinematobacter" in its nematode hosts. Endosymbionts in the egg move to the pole where the gut primordium arises; hence, they populate the intestinal epithelia of juvenile worms. During the host's molt to adult female, the endosymbionts concentrate around the developing ovaries to occupy the ovarian wall.

Virulence genes of the phytopathogen Rhodococcus fascians show specific spatial and temporal expression patterns during plant infection.

The phytopathogenic bacterium Rhodococcus fascians provokes shoot meristem formation and malformations on aerial plant parts, mainly at the axils. The interaction is accompanied by bacterial colonization of the plant surface and tissues. Upon infection, the two bacterial loci required for full virulence, fas and att, were expressed only at the sites of symptom development, although their expression profiles differed both spatially and temporally.

Chromosomal locus that affects pathogenicity of Rhodococcus fascians.

The gram-positive plant pathogen Rhodococcus fascians provokes leafy gall formation on a wide range of plants through secretion of signal molecules that interfere with the hormone balance of the host. Crucial virulence genes are located on a linear plasmid, and their expression is tightly controlled. A mutant with a mutation in a chromosomal locus that affected virulence was isolated.