1887

Abstract

The plant-pathogenic bacterium subsp. causes plant disease mainly through a number of extracellular plant-cell-wall-degrading enzymes. In this study, the ability of an mutant of the subsp. strain SCC3193 to infect plants and withstand environmental stress was characterized. This mutant was found to be sensitive to osmotic and oxidative stresses and to be deficient in glycogen accumulation. The production of extracellular enzymes was similar in the mutant and in the wild-type strains. However, the mutant caused more severe symptoms than the wild-type strain on tobacco plants and also produced more extracellular enzymes , but did not grow to higher cell density compared to the wild- type strain. When tested on plants with reduced catalase activities, which show higher levels of reactive oxygen species, the mutant was found to cause lower symptom levels and to have impaired growth. In addition, the mutant was unable to compete with the wild- type strain and . These results suggest that a functional gene is needed mainly for survival in a competitive environment and during stress conditions, and not for effective infection of plants.

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1999-12-01
2024-03-28
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