BigR is a sulfide sensor that regulates a sulfur transferase/dioxygenase required for aerobic respiration of plant bacteria under sulfide stress.

To cope with toxic levels of H2S, the plant pathogens Xylella fastidiosa and Agrobacterium tumefaciens employ the bigR operon to oxidize H2S into sulfite. The bigR operon is regulated by the transcriptional repressor BigR and it encodes a bifunctional sulfur transferase (ST) and sulfur dioxygenase (SDO) enzyme, Blh, required for H2S oxidation and bacterial growth under hypoxia. However, how Blh operates to enhance bacterial survival under hypoxia and how BigR is deactivated to derepress operon transcription is unknown. Here, we show that the ST and SDO activities of Blh are in vitro coupled and necessary to oxidize sulfide into sulfite, and that Blh is critical to maintain the oxygen flux during A. tumefaciens respiration when oxygen becomes limited to cells. We also show that H2S and polysulfides inactivate BigR leading to operon transcription. Moreover, we show that sulfite, which is produced by Blh in the ST and SDO reactions, is toxic to Citrus sinensis and that X. fastidiosa-infected plants accumulate sulfite and higher transcript levels of sulfite detoxification enzymes, suggesting that they are under sulfite stress. These results indicate that BigR acts as a sulfide sensor in the H2S oxidation mechanism that allows pathogens to colonize plant tissues where oxygen is a limiting factor.

Cell wall, lignin and fatty acid-related transcriptome in soybean: Achieving gene expression patterns for bioenergy legume.

Increasing efforts to preserve environmental resources have included the development of more efficient technologies to produce energy from renewable sources such as plant biomass, notably through biofuels and cellulosic residues. The relevance of the soybean industry is due mostly to oil and protein production which, although interdependent, results from coordinated gene expression in primary metabolism. Concerning biomass and biodiesel, a comprehensive analysis of gene regulation associated with cell wall components (as polysaccharides and lignin) and fatty acid metabolism may be very useful for finding new strategies in soybean breeding for the expanding bioenergy industry. Searching the Genosoja transcriptional database for enzymes and proteins directly involved in cell wall, lignin and fatty acid metabolism provides gene expression datasets with frequency distribution and specific regulation that is shared among several cultivars and organs, and also in response to different biotic/abiotic stress treatments. These results may be useful as a starting point to depict the Genosoja database regarding gene expression directly associated with potential applications of soybean biomass and/or residues for bioenergy-producing technologies.

The TAL effector PthA4 interacts with nuclear factors involved in RNA-dependent processes including a HMG protein that selectively binds poly(U) RNA.

Plant pathogenic bacteria utilize an array of effector proteins to cause disease. Among them, transcriptional activator-like (TAL) effectors are unusual in the sense that they modulate transcription in the host. Although target genes and DNA specificity of TAL effectors have been elucidated, how TAL proteins control host transcription is poorly understood. Previously, we showed that the Xanthomonas citri TAL effectors, PthAs 2 and 3, preferentially targeted a citrus protein complex associated with transcription control and DNA repair. To extend our knowledge on the mode of action of PthAs, we have identified new protein targets of the PthA4 variant, required to elicit canker on citrus. Here we show that all the PthA4-interacting proteins are DNA and/or RNA-binding factors implicated in chromatin remodeling and repair, gene regulation and mRNA stabilization/modification. The majority of these proteins, including a structural maintenance of chromosomes protein (CsSMC), a translin-associated factor X (CsTRAX), a VirE2-interacting protein (CsVIP2), a high mobility group (CsHMG) and two poly(A)-binding proteins (CsPABP1 and 2), interacted with each other, suggesting that they assemble into a multiprotein complex. CsHMG was shown to bind DNA and to interact with the invariable leucine-rich repeat region of PthAs. Surprisingly, both CsHMG and PthA4 interacted with PABP1 and 2 and showed selective binding to poly(U) RNA, a property that is novel among HMGs and TAL effectors. Given that homologs of CsHMG, CsPABP1, CsPABP2, CsSMC and CsTRAX in other organisms assemble into protein complexes to regulate mRNA stability and translation, we suggest a novel role of TAL effectors in mRNA processing and translational control.