Identification of virulence factors and type III effectors of Phylotype I, Indian Ralstonia solanacearum strains Rs-09-161 and Rs-10-244.

Abstract

Ralstonia solanacearum is a well known phytopathogen, causing bacterial wilt in a large number of agriculturally important crops. The pathogenicity of R. solanacearum is expressed due to the presence of various virulence factors and effector proteins. In this study various virulence factors and type III effector proteins of R. solanacearum present in the strains Rs-09-161 and Rs-10-244 were identified through bioinformatics approach and compared with other reference strains. R. solanacearum strains Rs-09-161 and Rs-10-244 belong to the Phylotype I, biovar3 and are the only sequenced strains from India infecting solanaceous vegetables. Similarity matrix obtained by comparing the sequences of virulence genes of Rs-09-161 and Rs-10-244 with other reference strains indicated that Rs-09-161 and Rs-10-244 share more than 99 per cent similarity between them and are closely related to GMI1000. The virulence factors in R. solanacearum appear to be highly conserved in the RSSC species complex. Rs-09-161 has 72 type III effectors whereas Rs-10-244 has 77. Comparison of the complete genes of type III effectors of Rs-09-161, Rs-10-244 and GMI1000 revealed the presence of 60 common effectors within them. Further, Rs-09-161 has the presence of two unique effectors and Rs-10-244 has four unique effectors. Phylogenetic trees of RipA, RipG, RipH and RipS effector sequences resulted in the grouping of the isolates based on their phylotypes. Group 1 consists of strains that belong to Phylotype I including Rs-09-161 and Rs-10-244. Phylotype III strain CMR15 forms a group closely associated with Phylotype I. The strains belonging to Phylotype II and Phylotype IV have separated to form two different groups.