Studies on inter-species and inter-kingdom signaling in plant-associated bacteria
V. VENTURI (1) (1) ICGEB, Italy

It is now evident that most bacteria living in the wild are part of complex multispecies communities hence it is very likely that interspecies communication is taking place. Moreover, bacterial communities living in close association with the plant most likely also undergo intensive inter-kingdom signaling. These aspects are now a major challenge in microbiology as microbial signaling has thus far been mainly studied in the laboratory in pure cultures. We are studying bacterial interspecies signaling using a plant disease as a model. The olive knot disease caused by Pseudomonas savastanoi results in tumors/galls in olive trees; we have established that inside the tumors, together with the pathogen, other bacterial species are living which interact and communicate with the pathogen resulting in mutual benefit and in a more serious disease. We have also initiated studies to unravel interkingdom signaling mechanisms in Pseudomonas syringae and a potential novel class of signals has been discovered.


Abstract Number: C22-1
Session Type: Concurrent