Allelic variations in the chpG effector gene within Clavibacter michiganensis populations determine pathogen host range

by Raj Kumar Verma, Veronica Roman-Reyna, Hagai Raanan, Gitta Coaker, Jonathan M. Jacobs, Doron Teper

Plant pathogenic bacteria often have a narrow host range, which can vary among different isolates within a population. Here, we investigated the host range of the tomato pathogen Clavibacter michiganensis (Cm). We determined the genome sequences of 40 tomato Cm isolates and screened them for pathogenicity on tomato and eggplant. Our screen revealed that out of the tested isolates, five were unable to cause disease on any of the hosts, 33 were exclusively pathogenic on tomato, and two were capable of infecting both tomato and eggplant. Through comparative genomic analyses, we identified that the five non-pathogenic isolates lacked the chp/tomA pathogenicity island, which has previously been associated with virulence in tomato. In addition, we found that the two eggplant-pathogenic isolates encode a unique allelic variant of the putative serine hydrolase chpG (chpG^C), an effector that is recognized in eggplant. Introduction of chpG^C into a chpG inactivation mutant in the eggplant-non-pathogenic strain Cm¹⁰¹, failed to complement the mutant, which retained its ability to cause disease in eggplant and failed to elicit hypersensitive response (HR). Conversely, introduction of the chpG variant from Cm¹⁰¹ into an eggplant pathogenic Cm isolate (C48), eliminated its pathogenicity on eggplant, and enabled C48 to elicit HR. Our study demonstrates that allelic variation in the chpG effector gene is a key determinant of host range plasticity within Cm populations.