The XadA Trimeric Autotransporter Adhesins in Xylella fastidiosa Differentially Contribute to Cell Aggregation, Biofilm Formation, Insect Transmission and Virulence to Plants.
Oseias R Feitosa-JuniorAna Paula S SouzaPaulo A ZainiClelia BaccariMichael IonescuPaulo M PierryGuillermo Uceda-CamposFabien LabroussaaRodrigo P P AlmeidaSteven E LindowAline Maria da SilvaPublished in: Molecular plant-microbe interactions : MPMI (2022)
Surface adhesion strategies are widely employed by bacterial pathogens during establishment and systemic spread in their host. A variety of cell-surface appendages such as pili, fimbriae, and afimbrial adhesins are involved in these processes. The phytopathogen Xylella fastidiosa employs several of these structures for efficient colonization of its insect and plant hosts. Among the adhesins encoded in the X. fastidiosa genome, three afimbrial adhesins, XadA1, Hsf/XadA2, and XadA3, are predicted to be trimeric autotransporters with a C-terminal YadA-anchor membrane domain. We analyzed the individual contributions of XadA1, XadA2, and XadA3 to various cellular behaviors both in vitro and in vivo. Using isogenic X. fastidiosa mutants, we found that cell-cell aggregation and biofilm formation were severely impaired in the absence of XadA3. No significant reduction of cell-surface attachment was found with any mutant under flow conditions. Acquisition by insect vectors and transmission to grapevines were reduced in the XadA3 deletion mutant. While the XadA3 mutant was hypervirulent in grapevines, XadA1 or XadA2 deletion mutants conferred lower disease severity than the wild-type strain. This insight of the importance of these adhesive proteins and their individual contributions to different aspects of X. fastidiosa biology should guide new approaches to reduce pathogen transmission and disease development. [Formula: see text] Copyright © 2022 The Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license.
Keyphrases
- biofilm formation
- wild type
- pseudomonas aeruginosa
- cell surface
- candida albicans
- staphylococcus aureus
- escherichia coli
- single cell
- cell therapy
- cystic fibrosis
- stem cells
- aedes aegypti
- gene expression
- klebsiella pneumoniae
- mesenchymal stem cells
- genome wide
- preterm birth
- high resolution
- zika virus
- preterm infants
- gram negative