Abstract

Host Prof. Sebastian Schornack

Abstract Virulence of Xanthomonas citri ssp. citri (Xcc) depends on the transcription activator-like effector PthA4, which activates the host transcription factor CsLOB1. To elucidate how CsLOB1 promotes Xcc, we integrated RNA -seq and ChIP-seq data and identified 96 CsLOB1-activated genes containing a CsLOB1 binding site, many encoding cell wall (CW) degrading enzymes (CWDEs). We predicted a CsLOB1 target motif and found that promoters containing this motif are activated by both CsLOB1 and the tomato ortholog SlLOB1, which is expressed exclusively at the onset of fruit ripening. We found that CsLOB1 is also expressed at the onset of ripening, suggesting that PthA4 hijacks the ripening programme to activate CWD Es and access plant CW sugars.

Biography During my PhD, I worked on cloning components of powdery mildew resistance in barley (Sainsbury Lab, Norwich; UK). From my first postdoc (University of Halle, Germany) to the present day (University of Tübingen, Germany), I have been working on effector proteins of the bacterial plant pathogen Xanthomonas, trying to understand how effectors increase the susceptibility of the host plant or trigger immune responses.

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