Functional Genomics of the Interactions of Tomato and Pseudomonas syringae pv tomato DC3000

Cornell Univ - State: Awds Made Prior May 2010, Ithaca NY

Investigators

Abstract

Rapid progress has been made in understanding the molecular basis of plant-microbe interactions. Tomato has been important in that research because of its genetic tractability, its economic value, and the cost of the many diseases that afflict it. A centerpiece of that work has been the gene-for-gene interactions of Pseudomonas syringae pv tomato DC3000 and tomato. DC3000 has emerged as an important model in molecular plant pathology because of its genetic tractability, because it also is a pathogen of Arabidopsis, and because its interactions with plants appear representative of many prevalent bacterial and fungal pathogens. An additional factor that makes DC3000 experimentally attractive is the evidence that its parasitic abilities are largely based on (an unknown number of) effector proteins that are injected into plant cells by the type III secretion system. Identification of these effectors will provide the basis for orderly dissection of the molecular processes underlying pathogenicity, and these proteins, which presumably have evolved to exquisitely alter plant gene expression and metabolism, are a likely source of new tools for plant biologists. Consequently, the first objective of this project is the sequencing of the complete genome of DC3000 by The Institute for Genomic Research and genome-based searches for genes encoding effector proteins and other potential virulence factors. Subsequent objectives involve microarray analyses to identify genes and regulons in both DC3000 and tomato that are likely to be important in the interaction and the development of a series of green fluorescent protein-based tools for monitoring molecular/cellular events in living plant tissues during bacterium-plant interactions. Because DC3000 interactions with tomato (and Arabidopsis) involve highly localized cellular events and appear to be highly multifactorial and dependent on redundant factors, these new tools will be essential for a functional genomic analysis of pathogenesis and defense. Other important objectives of the project involve the establishment of a community-oriented functional genomics annotation web site and database that will serve the wider research community and also provide the centerpiece for educational outreach activities involving high school students. Deliverables The key deliverables for the project are the complete genomic sequence of P. s. tomato DC3000, cell biology indicator plants, and bacterial mutants. The draft sequence of the genome is available through <a href=www.tigr.org/tdb/mdb/mdbinprogress.html> www.tigr.org/tdb/mdb/mdbinprogress.html </a>, effector gene coordinates and other resources are available through the project web site <a href=http://pseudomonas-syringae.org> http://pseudomonas-syringae.org <a/>