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  • Review Article
  • Published:

Xanthomonas diversity, virulence and plant–pathogen interactions

Abstract

Xanthomonas spp. encompass a wide range of plant pathogens that use numerous virulence factors for pathogenicity and fitness in plant hosts. In this Review, we examine recent insights into host–pathogen co-evolution, diversity in Xanthomonas populations and host specificity of Xanthomonas spp. that have substantially improved our fundamental understanding of pathogen biology. We emphasize the virulence factors in xanthomonads, such as type III secreted effectors including transcription activator-like effectors, type II secretion systems, diversity resulting in host specificity, evolution of emerging strains, activation of susceptibility genes and strategies of host evasion. We summarize the genomic diversity in several Xanthomonas spp. and implications for disease outbreaks, management strategies and breeding for disease resistance.

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Fig. 1: Xanthomonas spp. in different plant hosts.
Fig. 2: Diversity of Xanthomonas spp. and lineages and their virulence genes.
Fig. 3: Xanthomonas spp. effectors and their modes of action to trigger or suppress host defence responses.
Fig. 4: Role of Xanthomonas TALEs in plant susceptibility and resistance.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge A. M. Gochez and M. M. Shimwela for the images of Xanthomonas disease symptoms in citrus and banana, respectively.

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Overview of T3SEs inXanthomonasResource: http://xanthomonas.org/t3e.html

Supplementary information

Glossary

Vascular tissue

Tissue involved in transporting nutrients and fluids in plants. The primary components include xylem and phloem.

Mesophyll tissue

Leaf tissue between the epidermis layers that carries out photosynthesis.

Recombination

Genetic exchange between bacteria resulting in the incorporation of homologous and non-homologous sequences.

Type III secretion system

(T3SS). A secretion system composed of ~20 proteins that forms a syringe-like structure to deliver bacterial proteins to eukaryotic cells. Also referred to as the injectisome.

Effector-triggered immunity

(ETI). Innate immune response triggered by recognition of the type III translocated effector proteins by host resistance gene products.

Type II secretion system

(T2SS). A secretion system formed by secretin proteins, which form characteristic β-barrels for passage of secreted proteins.

Type VI secretion system

(T6SS). A secretion system that delivers bacterial proteins across a cellular envelope to adjacent target cells. Primarily known for interbacterial antagonism.

Hypersensitive response

A response mechanism found in plant hosts, characterized typically by a rapid cell death to prevent the spread of the pathogen.

Accessions

Groups of related plant material from the same species collected from a specific location. The accessions are collections to capture the diversity in a given plant species.

Pathogen or damage-associated molecular pattern (P/DAMP)-triggered immunity

(PTI/DTI). PTI refers to the immune response in hosts triggered by recognizing patterns associated with pathogen, for example, flagellin or lipopolysaccharide. DTI refers to the host immune response triggered as a result of recognition of cell wall-degradation products that are generated by the action of pathogen-secreted cell wall-degrading enzymes during pathogen invasion. PTI and DTI pathways have a significant overlap in their signalling components.

Receptor-like cytoplasmic kinases

Kinase-mediated signalling proteins that regulate plant cellular activities in response to biotic or abiotic stresses and endogenous extracellular signalling molecules.

Receptor-like kinase superfamily

Transmembrane proteins with versatile amino-terminal extracellular domains and carboxy-terminal intracellular kinases. They control a wide range of physiological responses in plants and belong to one of the largest gene families in the Arabidopsis thaliana genome, with more than 600 members.

MAPK

Protein kinases involved in regulating cellular responses to an extensive array of stimuli, including mitogens, heat shock and stress. Specific to serine and threonine amino acids.

Protoplast

The entire cell excluding the cell wall.

SWEET genes

Sugar will eventually be exported transporter (SWEET) genes encode membrane proteins with diverse function, typically facilitating sucrose and glucose efflux.

Recessive resistance

Resistance conferred by recessive allele of a gene in a plant host. The term is also used to refer to resistance conferred by mutation in disease-susceptibility genes.

Abscisic acid

A plant hormone with numerous functions in the plant developmental process, including dormancy and stress response.

Nucleotide binding, leucine-rich repeat (NLR) resistance genes

Resistance genes named after their characteristic nucleotide binding and leucine-rich repeat domains.

Two-component system

(TCS). Mediators of signal transduction in bacteria to detect the surrounding changes and relay the signal for modulating gene expression.

Pathogenic races

Groups of strains that belong to the same or closely related bacterial species, characterized by differential responses (compatible or incompatible reaction) on an array of hosts.

Dominant resistance

Resistance conferred by a single dominant resistance gene in plant hosts.

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Timilsina, S., Potnis, N., Newberry, E.A. et al. Xanthomonas diversity, virulence and plant–pathogen interactions. Nat Rev Microbiol 18, 415–427 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41579-020-0361-8

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