HCS Spring 2016 Seminar Series

“Studies of model and crop plants reveal molecular and system level functions of a conserved family of bacterial virulence proteins.” 

Abstract: Plant-pathogenic bacteria use type III secretion to deliver so-called type III effector proteins (T3Es) into the cytosol of host cells. T3Es of the AvrE-family are unique in their broad distribution amongst and strong contribution to the virulence of diverse genera of bacteria. However, despite this widespread contribution to a variety of agriculturally relevant plant diseases, little is known about the mechanism of action or functional outputs of AvrE-family T3Es. A multifaceted examination of two different AvrE-family T3Es from pathogens of the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana and maize is revealing molecular details of their initial interaction with the host via targeting host phosphatases as well as a system level view of their effects on hose gene expression, including mis-regulation of host enzymes and resulting metabolic changes that contribute to pathogen virulence.