The difficult search for the target of Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzicola virulence factor Tal11b
L. WANG (1), A. Bogdanove (2), L. Wang (3) (1) Cornell University, U.S.A.; (2) Plant Pathology and Plant-Microbe Biology Section, School of Integrative Plant Science, 334 Plant Sc, U.S.A.; (3) Plant Pathology and Plant-Microbe Biology Section, School of Integrative Plant Science, Cornell university, U.S.A.

Bacterial leaf streak of rice (Oryza sativa) caused by Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzicola (Xoc), can cause a 15-25% yield loss and is globally distributed. Xanthomonas transcription activator-like (TAL) effectors promote disease in plants by binding to and activating host susceptibility (S) genes. Four TAL effectors, Tal2f, Tal2g, Tal11a and Tal11b had been reported to contribute to the full virulence of Xoc strain BLS256. one S gene, the target of the major virulence factor Tal2g, has been identified so far. Tal11b is the second most important virulence contributor among the remaining TAL effectors of BLS256, contributing roughly 20% of virulence. But the target of Tal11b could not be identified using the standard approach of predicting binding sites in genes up-regulated by the pathogen, determined either by microarray or RNAseq analysis. To identify the target of Tal11b, a new RNAseq experiment is being established comparing a BLS256 Tal11b mutant with wild type BLS256 and comparing Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. glycines (Xag) harboring Tal11b with Xag harboring empty vector. To account for the possibility that the Tal11b target is non-canonical, strand specific RNA sequencing with de novo assembly is being performed.

Abstract Number: P7-217
Session Type: Poster