Single gene enables plant pathogenic Pectobacterium to overcome host‐specific chemical defence

摘要

Plants of the Brassicales order, including and many common vegetables, produce toxic isothiocyanates to defend themselves against pathogens. Despite this defence, plant pathogenic microorganisms like cause large yield losses in fields and during storage of crops. The bacterial gene was previously found to encode isothiocyanate hydrolase that degrades isothiocyanates in vitro. Here we demonstrate in planta that is a virulence factor that can overcome the chemical defence system of Brassicales plants. Analysis of the distribution of genes in suggests that from three different phylogenetic origins are present within this genus. Deletion of genes representing two of the most common classes from and resulted in significantly reduced virulence on and . Furthermore, expressing from a plasmid in a potato‐specific strain that does not naturally harbour this gene significantly increased the ability of the strain to macerate . These findings suggest that a single gene may have a significant role in defining the host range of a plant pathogen.