Luo Yu/Leibniz-HKI
The relationship between bacteria, amebas and plants is influenced by a smart chemical “radar”.
A team of researchers from the Hans Knöll Institute (Leibniz-HKI) investigated the interaction between the bacterium Pseudomonas syringae, an ubiquitous and devastating pathogenic agent for the plants, and the amebas as Polysphondylium pallidum, that feeds on bacteria and are yours “Natural enemies”.
The published this month in Cell shows the existence of um mechanism of so far unknown defense and Pseudomonas syringae.
“We have been able to show how bacteria uses a chemical radar to recognize and eliminate hostile amoebas. Interestingly, the Amebas themselves play a crucial role in their own death,” says Shuaibing Zhang, the first author of the study.
“A Pseudomonas syringae produces syringafactins. It is about harmless chemical compounds for amoebathat allow the bacteria to move faster. When amoeba finds this molecule, the body changes the chemical structure of saringophactin, ”says scientist Pierre Stallforth.
“The bacteria, in turn, has a Special Sensor Protein – The Chemical Regulatory Radar (Crar) – which recognizes these modified molecules. This allows bacteria to detect the presence of amoebas, and then the genes responsible for the production of toxic substances – pirofactins. The pirofactins, in turn, kill the amebas And, curiously, they are derived from modified syringaphactins, ”he says.
And the very infection of the bacteria is also linked to the chemical radar system, since the P. syringae can only infect watercress Arabidopsis thaliana In the presence of amoebas if the bacteria has an active “chemical radar”.
The study is also a kick -off to discover new bioactive natural substances.
