Master of Science / Genetics Interdepartmental Program - Plant Pathology / Frank F. White / Sanzhen Liu / Plants and bacterial pathogens are in constant co-evolution to survive and sustain the next generation. Plants have two well-characterized levels of active defense -pathogens-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs)-triggered immunity (PTI) and effectors-triggered immunity (ETI). Some plants that are hosts for bacterial pathogens employing type three secretion system transcription activator-like (TAL) effectors have evolved a unique form of ETI, namely TAL effector-mediated ETI. TAL effectors induce expression of specific disease susceptibility (S) genes. Rice and pepper have evolved resistance genes termed terminator (T) genes, which have promoters that bind TAL effectors and, upon expression of the T gene, elicit a hypersensitive reaction (HR) and cell death. Only five T genes have been cloned, and the origin of most T genes is unknown. To determine the presence of candidate T genes in other plants species, a bioinformatics-based mining was designed. The basic approach utilized three structural features common to four terminator genes: a short trans-membrane domain, a secretion signal domain, and a length of <200 amino acid residues. Soybean was chosen as the test plant species, and 161 genes were retrieved that fulfilled the three parameters using R and Perl software programs. Further, functional annotation of candidate genes was conducted by comparisons to genes in public databases. Major classes of proteins found included unique and hypothetical, defense/stress/oxidative stress associated, DNA-binding, kinases, transferases, hydrolases, effector-related tRNA splicing, and F- box domain proteins. The potential T genes will serve as candidates for experimental validation and new resources for durable resistance strategies in crop species.

The advancement of high-throughput, large-scale biochemical, biophysical, and genetic technologies has enabled the generation of massive amounts of biological data and allowed us to synthesize various types of biomaterial for engineering purposes. This enabled improved observational methodologies for us to navigate and locate, with unprecedented resolution, the potential factors and connections that may contribute to biological and biomedical processes. Nonetheless, it leaves us with the increasing demand to validate these observations to elucidate the actual causal mechanisms in biology and medicine. Due to the lack of powerful and precise tools to manipulate biological systems in mammalian cells, these efforts have not been able to progress at an adequate pace.

Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo), l'agent causal de bactériose vasculaire du riz (BLB), injecte des protéines de liaison à l'ADN, appelées Transcription Activator-Like Effectors (TALEs) dans les cellules hôtes afin de moduler l'expression de gènes cibles. Certains TALEs agissent comme des facteurs de virulence majeurs, indispensables à la mise en place du BLB et ciblent des gènes de sensibilité du riz. Les TALEs majeurs de Xoo ciblent universellement les gènes de sensibilité de la famille SWEET. Il existe dans la nature un polymorphisme des séquences ADN des gènes SWEET reconnues par les TALEs qui confère une résistance à la maladie. L’utilisation de la technologie TALEN a permis d'introduire artificiellement ce type de mutation dans le promoteur du gène de sensibilité SWEET14 le rendant insensible aux TALEs et conférant une résistance à certaines souches de Xoo asiatiques. La caractérisation des populations de Xoo africaines montrent qu'elles sont distinctes de celles d’Asie. L’objectif du projet de thèse était de créer à l'aide des technologies d'édition des génomes des sources de résistances efficaces contre un large panel de Xoo maliennes.Dans une première partie, l'édition des boites ADN de SWEET14 ciblées par des TALEs majeurs de souches africaines a effectivement permis d'obtenir des résistances contre les souches utilisant le TALE TalF (initialement appelé Tal5) mais pas contre celles utilisant TalC. La caractérisation du répertoire de TALEs des souches maliennes par des approches fonctionnelles (sensibilité des lignées éditées, expression de SWEET14 et autres gènes cibles de TALEs) et in silico (séquençage du génome de 8 souches) à révélé une diversité fonctionnelle de ces répertoires et la présence simultanée quasi systématique de versions actives et redondantes de TalF et TalC. La caractérisation de la sensibilité de variétés de riz locales aux souches de Xoo maliennes a montré que ces dernières possèdent un large spectre de virulence et qu'à une exception près, toutes les variétés testées sont sensibles au BLB. L'édition en multiplex par la technique CRISPR/Cas9 des boites TalF et TalC a aboli l'induction de SWEET14 en réponse à une souche malienne. Cependant, les lignées correspondantes sont restées sensibles à cette souche. Dans la dernière partie, pour expliquer ce résultat, nous avons postulé l'existence d'au moins un gène de sensibilité, cible de TalC et redondant avec SWEET14. Une approche bioinformatique a permis d'identifier un locus dont plusieurs caractéristiques en faisaient un candidat intéressant. Ce locus, nommé ATAC (pour Alternative TalC Target) est composé de deux gènes, ATAC1 et ATAC2 induits de façon bidirectionnelle par TalC. Nous avons montré qu'ATAC2, qui code pour un facteur de transcription bHLH atypique potentiellement impliqué dans l’élongation cellulaire et l'immunité chez le riz, se comporte comme un locus de sensibilité lorsqu'il est induit par des TALE artificiels dans un système gain de fonction. Nous avons édité simultanément le promoteur SWEET14 et le locus ATAC. Ces éditions devraient empêcher la reconnaissance du promoteur SWEET14 et du locus ATAC par TalC et TalF afin de conférer une résistance large au BLB au Mali. / Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo), the causal agent of bacterial leaf blight of rice (BLB), injects DNA binding proteins called Transcription Activator-Like Effectors (TALEs) into host cells to manipulate plant genes expression. Some TALEs behave as major virulence factors essential for BLB to occur by binding directly to target DNA boxes of rice susceptibility genes and inducing their expression. Xoo major TALEs universally target susceptibility genes of the SWEET family. In nature, polymorphism in the DNA sequence of SWEET genes recognized by TALEs confers resistance to BLB. Using the TALEN technology, this type of mutations has been artificially introduced in the promoter of the SWEET14 susceptibility gene to make it TALE-unresponsive and confer resistance to some Asian Xoo. The characterizations of Malian Xoo populations show that they are distinct from the Asian ones. The PhD project aimed to create broad tailored BLB resistance against Malian Xoo using genome editing technologies.First, editing SWEET14 DNA boxes targeted by major TALEs of African strains indeed yielded resistance against strains relying on TalF (initially named Tal5) but not against those relying on TalC. The characterization of Malian strains TALE repertoires using functional (edited lines susceptibility assays, SWEET14 and other TALE target expression studies) and in silico (genome sequencing of 8 strains) approaches uncovered functional diversity in these repertoires and, the almost systematic, simultaneous presence of active and redundant versions of TalF and TalC. In susceptibility assays of local rice varieties, Malian Xoo strains exhibited a broad virulence spectrum and, with one exception, all tested varieties were susceptible to BLB. Multiplex editing of TalF and TalC target boxes with the CRISPR/Cas9 technology abolished SWEET14 induction in response to a Malian strain. However the corresponding rice lines remained susceptible to this strain. Finally, to explain these results, we postulated the existence of, at least, a TalC target susceptibility gene redundant with SWEET14. Bioinformatics analysis identified a rice locus with several features electing it as a high priority candidate. This locus named ATAC (Alternative TalC Target) is composed of two genes, ATAC1 and ATAC2, bidirectionally upregulated by TalC. We further showed that ATAC2 which is predicted to code for an atypical bHLH transcription factor potentially involved in rice cell elongation and immunity, behaves as a susceptibility gene upon artificial TALEs-mediated induction in a gain of function assay. We used the CRISPR/Cas9 system to simultaneously edit the SWEET14 promoter and the ATAC locus. These mutations should prevent the recognition of the SWEET14 promoter and the ATAC locus by TalC and TalF, compromise their transcriptional induction and ultimately provide broad BLB resistance in Mali.

Vers une analyse fonctionnelle du TALome des souches Africaines de Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae : identification d’une nouvelle stratégie de virulence. Les bactéries du genre Xanthomonas injectent à l’intérieure de la cellule hôte des effecteurs de type TAL (Transcription Activator-Like) qui agissent comme des facteurs de transcription spécifiques à l’aide d’un nouveau domaine de liaison à l’ADN qui est programmable. La bactérie pathogène du riz Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo) contient un nombre important de gènes TAL (de 9 à 16) dans leur génome. Tandis que un ou deux de ces gènes codent des facteurs de virulence majeurs, la contribution relative de chacun des autres gènes TALs à la pathogénie de Xoo reste encore obscure. Afin d’élucider cela, le génome complet de trois souches Africaines de Xoo a été analysé à l’aide de la technologie de séquençage PacBio. Une analyse phylogénétique des trois TALomes combinée à des prédictions de cibles des TAL in silico montre que les TALomes Africains sont très conservés et génétiquement distants des correspondants asiatiques. Les gènes TAL individuels des souches Africaines de Xoo MAI1 et BAI3 ont été sous-clonés via une nouvelle méthode d’analyse à moyen débit dans un vecteur d’expression compatible avec des tests de pathogénie. Un test systématique de « gain de virulence » de la fonction de chacun des 11 haplotypes TAL a été réalisé en les introduisant dans la souche de Xoo X11-5A qui est peu virulente et ne contient naturellement pas de TALs, révélant Tal2 comme un nouveau facteur de virulence majeur dans les souches Africaines de Xoo. La prédiction in-silico des cibles de Tal2 dans le promoterome de riz associée à des expériences de QRT-PCR ont mis en évidence deux cibles de virulence candidates de Tal2, OsTFX1 qui code un facteur de transcription de type bZIP déjà rapporté comme gène de sensibilité S commun à différentes souches Asiatiques de Xoo, et Os09g39810 (aussi appelé ici OsERF#123), qui code pour un facteur de transcription de la famille des protéines de type « ethylene response factor ». Des test de pathogénie ont confirmé l’induction spécifique de ce dernier obtenue à l’aide de TAL artificiels confère une sensibilité accrue du riz aux souches africaines de Xoo. Des expériences de type 5’-RACE ont montré que Tal2 induisait l’expression d’un transcrit alternatif caractérisé par une séquence « leader » plus longue. Nous faisons l’hypothèse que l’accumulation de ce transcrit alternatif spécifique de Tal2 interfère avec la fonction endogène de ce facteur de transcription de type ERF, dont nous montrons qu’elle est potentiellement impliquée dans l’induction des réponses de défense de la plante.Un autre axe de recherche de cette thèse a été d’initier la caractérisation des bactérioses du riz au Vietnam, qui est l’un des plus grands exportateurs de riz au monde. Tandis que la bactériose vasculaire due à Xoo a été rapportée plusieurs fois dans ce pays, une description formelle de la bactériose à stries foliaires causée par X. oryzae pv. oryzicola faisait défaut. Ici, nous avons confirmé l’occurrence de la BLS au Nord du Vietnam à l’aide d’une PCR-multiplexée. L’échantillonnage a également montré que les deux pathovars étaient présents dans cette région et parfois retrouvés sur la même feuille. Des analyses de la dynamique des populations de Xo et l’analyse fonctionnelle des TALomes serviront de base pour établir de nouvelles stratégies de lutte contre les xanthomonads infectant le riz au Vietnam. / Towards a functional analysis of African Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae TALomes : identification of a novel virulence strategy Bacterial plant-pathogenic Xanthomonas translocate Transcription Activator-Like (TAL) effectors into plant cells to function as specific plant transcription factors via a novel programmable DNA-binding domain. Rice-pathogenic Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo) strains contain multiple TAL genes (from 9 to 16) in their genome. While one or two act as major virulence factors, the relative contribution of each of the other members to Xoo pathogenicity remains unclear. To address that question, three African Xoo TALome have been analyzed using whole genome PacBio sequencing data. A phylogenetic analysis of the three TALomes combined to TAL targets in-silico predictions showed that African TALomes are highly conserved and genetically distant from Asian ones.Individual TAL genes from African Xoo strains MAI1 and BAI3 were directly sub-cloned via a self-developing medium-throughput approach into an expression vector suitable for pathogenicity analysis. A systematic “gain-of-virulence” analysis of the function of each of the 11 TAL effector clusters was assessed in Xoo strain X11-5A which has low virulence and is naturally devoid of TAL genes, revealing Tal2 as a novel major virulence factor in African Xoo. In-silico prediction for Tal2 binding sites in the rice promoterome and qRT-PCR analysis highlighted two virulence targets for Tal2, i.e. OsTFX1, which encodes a bZIP transcription factor previously known as a common susceptibility S gene targeted by Asian Xoo, and Os09g39810 (also referred to as OsERF#123), which encodes a putative transcription factor of the ethylene response factor family. Pathogenicity assays further confirmed that designer TALE-mediated specific induction of Os09g39810 confers higher susceptibility of rice to African strains of Xoo. 5’-RACE experiments showed that Tal2 induces the transcription of an alternative Os09g39810 transcript characterized by a longer leader sequence. We hypothesize that accumulation of this Tal2-specific transcript interferes with the endogenous function of this ERF-encoding gene, which is potentially involved with the induction of defense responses. Another project was to initiate the characterization of bacterial diseases of rice in Vietnam, one of the biggest rice exporting country over the world. While the occurrence of bacterial blight which is due to Xoo, was documented in several reports in this country, there was no formal description of bacterial leaf streak which is due to X. oryzae pv. oryzicola. Here, we attempted to confirm the presence of BLS in North Vietnam by using multiplex-PCR assay. The survey also indicated that both pathovars appear in this area and eventually in the same leaf samples. Further analysis of Xo populations dynamic and functional analysis of TALomes will be useful to infer novel strategies to control rice-pathogenic Xanthomonads in this country in the future.

Orientador: Celso Eduardo Benedetti / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Biologia / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-19T05:56:46Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Pereira_AndreLuizAraujo_D.pdf: 43759919 bytes, checksum: 379266575f1db46c7d620232efb9ba13 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011 / Resumo: O cancro cítrico resulta da interação compatível entre a bactéria Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. citri e Citrus spp. A doença não tem cura, é de fácil disseminação e difícil controle. O cenário é preocupante, pois a doença diminui drasticamente o rendimento e a qualidade dos frutos de plantas infectadas, ocasionando um forte impacto econômico na citricultura mundial. Os principais sintomas do cancro cítrico, resultantes dos processos de hipertrofia (aumento do volume celular) e hiperplasia (aumento da divisão celular), são dependentes da proteína efetora PthA de X. citri. PthA integra a família de fatores de transcrição conhecida como efetores ativadores de transcrição (transcription activator-like ou TAL). O principal homólogo de PthA é o efetor AvrBs3 de X. campestris pv. vesicatoria que atua regulando a transcrição de genes do hospedeiro em benefício do patógeno. A similaridade entre estas proteínas gira em torno de 97%, sugerindo, portanto, função semelhante para PthA. Através de uma série de microarranjos, investigou-se o perfil de expressão gênica de laranja doce (Citrus sinensis) dependente de PthA (X. citri) e de PthCs de X. aurantifolii, uma bactéria que causa cancro cítrico apenas no limão galego e que, em laranja doce, induz uma reação de hipersensibilidade. Desta forma, verificou-se a regulação positiva ou negativa de uma série de genes. Os PthCs regularam negativamente genes associados à sinalização por auxina e induziram a expressão de genes de defesa e silenciamento gênico. Em contrapartida, PthAs induziram uma série de genes intimamente relacionados aos sintomas de cancrose, incluindo: genes associados aos processos de aumento e divisão celular, síntese e remodelamento de parede celular, bem como genes envolvidos na sinalização por auxina e giberelina. Neste sentido, efetuou-se o isolamento de regiões promotoras de cinco genes, os quais são potencialmente regulados por PthA. A análise destas regiões revelou a presença de um possível TATA-box notavelmente semelhante àquele encontrado no gene upa20, denominado UPA-box (up-regulated por AvrBs3), sugerindo que estes genes poderiam ser transativados por PthA em citros. De fato, ensaios de retardamento de mobilidade eletroforética (electrophoretic mobility shift assay ou EMSA), demonstraram a ligação específica de PthA2 e 4 ao TATA-box encontrado na região promotora do gene que codifica uma proteínas relacionada à patogênese (pathogenesis-related proteins ou PR). Este resultado corrobora com a hipótese de que os efetores TAL atuam como proteínas ligadoras de elementos TATA. Finalmente, experimentos de co-imunoprecipitação de cromatina (ChIP) e cotransformação demonstraram, ainda que em resultados preliminares, que particularmente PthA4 é capaz de transativar pr5 in planta. Embora o cancro cítrico ainda não seja completamente entendido a nível molecular, os dados aqui apresentados sugerem fortemente a ação de PthAs como fatores de transcrição, bem como aponta candidatos à regulação positiva intimamente associados aos processos de hipertrofia e hiperplasia. Além disso, as regiões promotoras aqui isoladas podem ajudar no desenvolvimento de novas estratégias para a geração de plantas resistentes à cancrose / Abstract: Citrus canker is a result of a compatible interaction between Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. citri and Citrus spp. There is no cure for citrus canker, and the disease is easily spread and difficult to be managed. The scenario is threatening since the disease dramatically diminishes the quality of fruits in infected plants leading to great economic losses for the world citrus producers. The main citrus canker symptoms known as hypertrophy (cell enlargement) and hyperplasia (cell division) are PthA-dependent. PthA is an effector protein from X. citri which belongs to the TAL effectors (transcription activatorlike) family. The closest homologue of PthA is AvrBs3 from Xanthomonas campestris pv. vesicatoria, a TAL effector that acts as a transcriptional factor to modulate host transcription to the pathogen's benefit. Similarity shared by these two proteins is around 97%, suggesting that PthA plays a similar role in the citrus host. Through a number of microarray experiments, we investigate the gene transcription in sweet orange (Citrus sinensis) in response to the transient expression of PthA from X. citri or PthC from X. aurantifolii, pathotype C, a bacteria that causes citrus canker in Mexican lime but in orange trigger a hypersensitive response in sweet orange. We observed that PthCs down-regulated various auxin signaling genes and induced the expression of genes involved in defense and gene silencing. On the other hand, PthAs induces several genes implicated in canker development such as cell division and elongation, cell-wall synthesis and remodeling, synthesis, mobilization and signaling of auxin and gibberellin. Promoter regions of PthA-induced genes were isolated and shown to have predicted PthA and PthC binding sites at or near their putative TATA boxes. Moreover, competition gel shift assays confirmed that PthA4 shows preferential binding to the TATA box of the pathogenesis-related (pr5) gene promoter, supporting the idea that TAL effectors may act as general TATA-binding proteins. Finally, both chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) and co-transformation assays demonstrated however as preliminary results, that PthA4 is able to transactivate pr5 in planta. Albeit the molecular mechanism by which citrus canker develop remains elusive at the molecular level, we provided data supporting the notion that PthA acts as a transcriptional factor, as well as identified PthA-induced genes associated with hypertrophy and hyperplasia. Furthermore, the promoter regions isolated here might be useful to obtain citrus plants resistant to the canker bacteria / Doutorado / Bioquimica / Doutor em Biologia Funcional e Molecular