2. Academic Validation
  3. Phevamine A, a small molecule that suppresses plant immune responses

Phevamine A, a small molecule that suppresses plant immune responses

  • Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2018 Oct 9;115(41):E9514-E9522. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1803779115.
Erinn M O'Neill 1,  Tatiana S Mucyn 2 3,  Jon B Patteson 1,  Omri M Finkel 2 3,  Eui-Hwan Chung 2 3,  Joshua A Baccile 4 5,  Elisabetta Massolo 1,  Frank C Schroeder 4 5,  Jeffery L Dangl 2 3,  Bo Li 6
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 Department of Chemistry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599.
  • 2 Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599.
  • 3 Department of Biology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599.
  • 4 Boyce Thompson Institute, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853.
  • 5 Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853.
  • 6 Department of Chemistry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599; [email protected].
PMID: 30237288 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1803779115
Abstract

Bacterial plant pathogens cause significant crop damage worldwide. They invade plant cells by producing a variety of virulence factors, including small-molecule toxins and Phytohormone mimics. Virulence of the model pathogen Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato DC3000 (Pto) is regulated in part by the sigma factor HrpL. Our study of the HrpL regulon identified an uncharacterized, three-gene operon in Pto that is controlled by HrpL and related to the Erwinia hrp-associated systemic virulence (HSV) operon. Here, we demonstrate that the HSV operon contributes to the virulence of Pto on Arabidopsis thaliana and suppresses bacteria-induced immune responses. We show that the HSV-encoded enzymes in Pto synthesize a small molecule, phevamine A. This molecule consists of l-phenylalanine, l-valine, and a modified spermidine, and is different from known small molecules produced by phytopathogens. We show that phevamine A suppresses a potentiation effect of spermidine and l-arginine on the Reactive Oxygen Species burst generated upon recognition of Bacterial flagellin. The HSV operon is found in the genomes of divergent Bacterial genera, including ∼37% of P. syringae genomes, suggesting that phevamine A is a widely distributed virulence factor in phytopathogens. Our work identifies a small-molecule virulence factor and reveals a mechanism by which Bacterial pathogens overcome plant defense. This work highlights the power of omics approaches in identifying important small molecules in bacteria-host interactions.

Keywords

genome mining; natural products; phytopathogen; plant immunity; virulence factor.

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