Investigation of Quorum Sensing-Dependent Gene Expression in Burkholderia gladioli BSR3 through RNA-seq Analyses

Abstract

The plant pathogen Burkholderia gladioli, which has a broad host range that includes rice and onion, causes bacterial panicle blight and sheath rot. Based on the complete genome sequence of B. gladioli BSR3 isolated from infected rice sheaths, the genome of B. gladioli BSR3 contains the luxI/luxR family of genes. Members of this family encode N-acyl-homoserine lactone (AHL) quorum sensing (QS) signal synthase and the LuxR-family AHL signal receptor, which are similar to B. glumae BGR1. In B. glumae, QS has been shown to play pivotal roles in many bacterial behaviors. In this study, we compared the QS-dependent gene expression between B. gladioli BSR3 and a QS-defective B. gladioli BSR3 mutant in two different culture states (10 and 24 h after incubation, corresponding to an exponential phase and a stationary phase) using RNA sequencing (RNA-seq). RNA-seq analyses including gene ontology and pathway enrichment revealed that the B. gladioli BSR3 QS system regulates genes related to motility, toxin production, and oxalogenesis, which were previously reported in B. glumae. Moreover, the uncharacterized polyketide biosynthesis is activated by QS, which was not detected in B. glumae. Thus, we observed not only common QS-dependent genes between B. glumae BGR1 and B. gladioli BSR3, but also unique QS-dependent genes in B. gladioli BSR3.