AI Article Synopsis

  • The study focuses on the gram-negative bacterium that causes bacterial fruit blotch (BFB) in cucurbit crops, especially watermelon, highlighting the need for resistant cultivars and effective control strategies.
  • Researchers investigated the role of the phosphoglycerate mutase protein (BdpmAc) through comparative proteomic analysis and phenotypic assays, discovering that a mutant strain with a knockout of this protein showed significantly reduced virulence and altered growth on specific carbon sources.
  • Findings indicate that BdpmAc influences various factors such as virulence, biofilm formation, and osmotic tolerance, suggesting it plays multiple roles in the bacterium's physiology and its ability to cause disease.

Article Abstract

() is a gram-negative bacterium that causes bacterial fruit blotch (BFB) disease in cucurbit crops including watermelon. However, despite the great economic losses caused by this disease worldwide, -resistant watermelon cultivars have not been developed. Therefore, characterizing the virulence factors/mechanisms of would enable the development of effective control strategies against BFB disease. The 2,3-bisphosphoglycerate-dependent phosphoglycerate mutase (BdpM) is known to participate in the glycolysis and gluconeogenesis pathways. However, the roles of the protein have not been characterized in . To elucidate the functions of BdpmAc (Bdpm in ), comparative proteomic analysis and diverse phenotypic assays were conducted using a knockout mutant () and a wild-type strain. The virulence of the mutant to watermelon was remarkably reduced in both germinated seed inoculation and leaf infiltration assays. Moreover, the mutant could not grow with fructose or pyruvate as a sole carbon source. However, the growth of the mutant was restored to levels similar to those of the wild-type strain in the presence of both fructose and pyruvate. Comparative proteomic analyses revealed that diverse proteins involved in motility and wall/membrane/envelop biogenesis were differentially abundant. Furthermore, the mutant exhibited decreased biofilm formation and twitching halo size. Interestingly, the mutant exhibited a higher tolerance against osmotic stress. Overall, our findings suggest that BdpmAc affects the virulence, glycolysis/gluconeogenesis, biofilm formation, twitching halo size, and osmotic tolerance of , suggesting that this protein has pleiotropic properties. Collectively, our findings provide fundamental insights into the functions of a previously uncharacterized phosphoglycerate mutase in .

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Source
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9681784PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2022.1039420DOI Listing

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