The role of small proteins in the plant pathogen Xanthomonas

• Applicants: Professorin Dr. Ulla Bonas; Dr. Cornelius Schmidtke
• Subject Area: Metabolism, Biochemistry and Genetics of Microorganisms ; Cell Biology
• Term: from 2017 to 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 379643416

The gamma proteobacterium Xanthomonas campestris pv. vesicatoria causes bacterial spot disease on pepper and tomato. Based on RNA-seq analyses we identified 200 transcripts that potentially harbor one or several predicted small ORFs and might encode µ-proteins (10-50 amino acids, aa). 49 of these transcripts are presumably regulated by the key regulators of the type III secretion system, which is essential for Xcv pathogenicity.We aim at the identification of translated sORFs and µ-proteins with possible role in Xcv virulence. The specific aims are:(i) Genome-wide identification of translated sORFs and corresponding µ-proteins(ii) Identification of potentially secreted µ-proteins (iii) Bioinformatic analyses, expression and localization studies and functional analysis of selected candidates to identify µ-proteins involved in Xcv virulence.(iv) Identification of µ-protein interaction partners

• DFG Programme: Priority Programmes
• Subproject of: SPP 2002: Small Proteins in Prokaryotes, an Unexplored World