Bacterial quorum sensing facilitates Xanthomonas campesteris pv. campestris invasion of host tissue to maximize disease symptoms.

Abstract

Quorum sensing (QS) helps the Xanthomonas group of phytopathogens to infect several crop plants. The vascular phytopathogen Xanthomonas campestris pv. campestris (Xcc) is the causal agent of black rot disease on Brassicaceae leaves, where a typical v-shaped lesion spans both vascular and mesophyll regions with progressive leaf chlorosis. Recently, the role of QS has been elucidated during Xcc early infection stages. However, a detailed insight into the possible role of QS-regulated bacterial invasion in host chlorophagy during late infection stages remains elusive. In this study, using QS-responsive whole-cell bioreporters of Xcc, we present a detailed chronology of QS-facilitated Xcc colonization in the mesophyll region of cabbage (Brassica oleracea) leaves. We report that QS-enabled localization of Xcc to parenchymal chloroplasts triggers leaf chlorosis and promotion of systemic infection. Our results indicate that the QS response in the Xanthomonas group of vascular phytopathogens maximizes their population fitness across host tissues to trigger stage-specific host chlorophagy and establish a systemic infection.