An aerotaxis receptor influences invasion of into its host.

is a soil-borne pathogenic bacterium that causes crown gall disease in many plants. Chemotaxis offers the ability to find its host and establish infection. Being an aerobic bacterium, possesses one chemotaxis system with multiple potential chemoreceptors. Chemoreceptors play an important role in perceiving and responding to environmental signals. However, the studies of chemoreceptors in remain relatively restricted. Here, we characterized a cytoplasmic chemoreceptor of C58 that contains an N-terminal globin domain. The chemoreceptor was designated as Atu1027. The deletion of Atu1027 not only eliminated the aerotactic response of to atmospheric air but also resulted in a weakened chemotactic response to multiple carbon sources. Subsequent site-directed mutagenesis and phenotypic analysis showed that the conserved residue His100 in Atu1027 is essential for the globin domain's function in both chemotaxis and aerotaxis. Furthermore, deleting Atu1027 impaired the biofilm formation and pathogenicity of . Collectively, our findings demonstrated that Atu1027 functions as an aerotaxis receptor that affects agrobacterial chemotaxis and the invasion of into its host.