bZIP11 Is a Susceptibility Factor During Infection.

The induction of plant nutrient secretion systems is critical for successful pathogen infection. Some bacterial pathogens (e.g., spp.) use transcription activator-like (TAL) effectors to induce transcription of SWEET sucrose efflux transporters. pv. strain DC3000 lacks TAL effectors yet is able to induce multiple SWEETs in by unknown mechanisms. Because bacteria require other nutrients in addition to sugars for efficient reproduction, we hypothesized that spp. may depend on host transcription factors involved in secretory programs to increase access to essential nutrients. Bioinformatic analyses identified the basic-leucine zipper transcription factor bZIP11 as a potential regulator of nutrient transporters, including SWEETs and UmamiT amino acid transporters. Inducible downregulation of expression in resulted in reduced growth of pv. strain DC3000, whereas inducible overexpression of resulted in increased bacterial growth, supporting the hypothesis that bZIP11-regulated transcription programs are essential for maximal pathogen titer in leaves. Our data are consistent with a model in which a pathogen alters host transcription factor expression upstream of secretory transcription networks to promote nutrient efflux from host cells.[Formula: see text] Copyright © 2021 The Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license.