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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Microbe and Virus Interactions with Plants
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2025.1539906

Pseudomonas cold shock proteins suppress bacterial effector translocation in Nicotiana benthamiana

Provisionally accepted
Shen Cong Shen Cong 1Jun-Zhou Li Jun-Zhou Li 1Meiran Zhang Meiran Zhang 1,2Hai-Lei Wei Hai-Lei Wei 1Wei Zhang Wei Zhang 3*
  • 1 Institute of Agricultural Resources and Regional Planning, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China
  • 2 School of Chemistry and Biological Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, China
  • 3 Plant Pathology and Plant-Microbe Biology Section, School of Integrative Plant Science, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, United States

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Abstract Plants detect the invasion of microbial pathogens through pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs). Cold shock proteins (CSPs) are a class of PAMPs specifically recognized by Solanales plants. While peptide inoculation studies have revealed the effects of CSPs, their in vivo roles remain poorly understood. In this study, we aimed to explore the role of CSPs in modulating plant immunity in the interactions between Pseudomonas and Nicotiana benthamiana. Three highly-conserved CSPs were identified in Pseudomonas strains. Transient expression of these CSPs neither induced reactive oxygen species (ROS) production nor suppressed the hypersensitive response (HR) in N. benthamiana, however, it restricted bacterial effector translocation. Genetic analysis revealed that these CSPs did not contribute to the ROS burst or HR inhibition in vivo but were functionally redundant in suppressing effector translocation in a flagellin (FliC)-independent manner. Furthermore, we demonstrated that the suppression of effector translocation mediated by CSPs was less pronounced compared to that triggered by FliC. Additionally, inoculation with csp15 and csp22 epitopes triggered the pattern-triggered immunity-associated suppression of effector translocations. These findings highlight the significant roles of CSPs in modulating plant immunity.

    Keywords: Pseudomonas, Cold shock proteins, Nicotiana benthamiana, bacterial effector translocation, Plant Immunity

    Received: 05 Dec 2024; Accepted: 09 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Cong, Li, Zhang, Wei and Zhang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Wei Zhang, Plant Pathology and Plant-Microbe Biology Section, School of Integrative Plant Science, Cornell University, Ithaca, 14853-5904, New York, United States

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