Key Laboratory of Grassland Ecosystem, Ministry of Education, College of Grassland Science, Gansu Agricultural University, Lanzhou 730070, China.
Sino-U.S. Centers for Grazing Land Ecosystem Sustainability, Ministry of Science and Technology, Lanzhou 730070, China.
Int J Mol Sci. 2023 May 2;24(9):8138. doi: 10.3390/ijms24098138.
Alfalfa is widely grown worldwide for its excellent nutritional value. species living in alfalfa seeds can easily spread over great distances with frequent trade. However, the pathogenic properties of this dangerous hitchhiker on alfalfa have not been evaluated. Here, we identified the taxonomic status of strain CQ10 isolated from the interior of alfalfa seeds based on the whole genome sequence. The diverse virulence attributes of strain CQ10 during host infection were characterized through pathogenicity assays and functional and genomic analyses. We report that strain CQ10 belongs to a novel species in the genus , which was phylogenetically close to and . Strain CQ10 caused bacterial leaf blight of alfalfa after inoculation from the roots. We found that strain CQ10 possesses a large number of pathogenic genes involved in shaping the virulence properties during bacteria-host interactions, including motility, biofilm, type VI secretion system, and nutrient acquisition. Compared with and , the unique virulence factors of strain CQ10 were mainly involved in motility and biofilm, which were confirmed by in vitro experiments. Taken together, our results suggest that strain CQ10 is the first species to infect alfalfa, and it possesses diverse virulence attributes among which motility and biofilm may be the best weapons.
紫花苜蓿在世界范围内广泛种植,因其具有极好的营养价值。生活在紫花苜蓿种子中的物种可以随着频繁的贸易很容易地传播到很远的距离。然而,这种在紫花苜蓿上危险搭便车者的致病性尚未得到评估。在这里,我们根据全基因组序列确定了从紫花苜蓿种子内部分离出的菌株 CQ10 的分类地位。通过致病性测定、功能和基因组分析,我们对菌株 CQ10 在宿主感染过程中的多种毒力特性进行了表征。我们报告说,菌株 CQ10 属于属中的一个新种,与 和 亲缘关系较近。菌株 CQ10 从根部接种后会引起紫花苜蓿的细菌性叶斑病。我们发现,菌株 CQ10 拥有大量参与塑造细菌-宿主相互作用中毒力特性的致病基因,包括运动性、生物膜形成、VI 型分泌系统和营养物质获取。与 和 相比,菌株 CQ10 的独特毒力因子主要涉及运动性和生物膜形成,这通过体外实验得到了证实。总之,我们的研究结果表明,菌株 CQ10 是第一个感染紫花苜蓿的 种,它具有多种毒力特性,其中运动性和生物膜形成可能是其最好的武器。