I’ve a particular relationship with the bacterium Xanthomonas. As a grad scholar at UC Davis, I did my thesis analysis on Xanthomonas campestris pathovar campestris, a species of this genus of bacterial pathogens that causes illness on the vegetable and seed crops often called brassicas, which embody vegetation comparable to cabbage, broccoli, radish, and mustard.
I had a variety of enjoyable throughout my Ph.D. each within the lab and out of doors. I relished being requested at social events what I work on. I’d reply with a straight face and a deadpan tone: “Black rot of cabbage.” The appears to be like on folks’s faces have been priceless. Some have been confused, some have been disgusted, and a few have been simply plain amused. However for me, it was all value it simply to see their reactions.
I gained’t go so far as saying that this was my favourite pickup line, however I ended up discovering love with somebody who appreciates my cabbage-related humor and different nerdish pleasures. Not less than, I wish to consider that.
Whereas it could not have made me sound like a rocket scientist in comparison with a few of my fellow college students who labored on extra high-profile matters, my humorous introduction did serve its objective: it caught folks’s consideration and gave me a possibility to clarify the significance of finding out vegetation and plant ailments.
You see, plant ailments can have critical penalties for agriculture and meals safety. Understanding how these ailments unfold and how one can management them is essential for sustaining wholesome crops and feeding the rising world inhabitants.
So whereas finding out black rot of cabbage could not look like probably the most glamorous or groundbreaking analysis, it’s truly a significant a part of the bigger puzzle. And who is aware of, perhaps someday analysis on cabbage rot will result in breakthroughs that change the world.
And that’s just about what occurred. The bacterium Xanthomonas has given us scientific breakthroughs that go means past the world of plant pathology. Listed here are three merchandise or applied sciences that we owe to Xanthomonas:
1. Xanthan gum
Xanthan gum is a high-molecular-weight carbohydrate polymer produced by Xanthomonas. It’s a ubiquitous ingredient within the processed meals trade, getting used as a thickener, stabilizer and emulsifier. It could actually enhance the feel, suspension, and stability of meals merchandise.
The meals trade loves xanthan gum and it will need to have been helpful to bettering a lot of merchandise. Nevertheless, I’ve to admit right here that I’m not a fan of processed meals, notably the ultra processed type that includes multiple industrially produced ingredients. Xanthan gum, for instance, is touted as a gluten-free baking alternative for gluten. However as I and plenty of others have found — I’m gluten-intolerant and have been keep away from gluten merchandise for about 10 years — xanthan gum may cause digestive discomfort, and may comprise gluten when the bacterium is fermented on a tradition medium based mostly on wheat.
I as soon as had dinner from a bottled Tomato, Pepper & Cucumber Gazpacho Soup, which appeared nutritious and interesting after I noticed it within the retailer. It was a mistake as I skilled bloating and had a tough night time as a consequence. Upon nearer examination, I discovered that the soup was largely xanthan gum (presumably over 60% in line with the components listing). I used to be basically consuming a soup of fermented Xanthomonas extracts, an instance of how the meals trade methods us into buying processed meals disguised as wholesome choices.
Xanthan gum is utilized in industries past meals, comparable to cosmetics, prescription drugs, and even oil and fuel drilling as an additive. The global xanthan gum market is increasing at a charge of over 5% yearly and is projected to succeed in a price of $1 billion within the close to future.
2. TALEN gene modifying expertise
TALENs (Transcription Activator-Like Effector Nucleases) have been developed within the mid-2000s as a brand new instrument for gene modifying (GE). The TALEN expertise originated from the invention that virulence effectors proteins, so-called TAL Effectors (TALEs), secreted by Xanthomonas proteins kind a very novel sort of DNA binding proteins. TALEs are programmable DNA-binding proteins as a result of they observe a selected code the place one explicit protein repeat sequence binds a selected base of DNA. You can almost hear me gasp in this tweet after I realized the expertise’s potential upon first listening to about it at a plant pathology convention in 2009.
It didn’t take lengthy after that for scientists to fuse TALEs with a DNA-cutting area derived from the FokI endonuclease to design programmable enzymes that may goal particular sequences in an organism’s genome. This mixture of DNA-binding and reducing capabilities makes TALENs a strong instrument for gene modifying with functions in drugs and agriculture. In a single gene remedy trial, TALENs have been used to right the mutation and “treatment the incurable most cancers” of a one-year previous woman named Layla Richards. Thanks Xanthomonas.
TALENs have misplaced some recognition after the invention of CRISPR-based gene modifying, however the functions of TAL effectors have expanded past the realm of plant-pathogen interactions.
3. The antibiotic albicidin
Albicidin is an antibiotic produced by Xanthomonas albilineans, a pathogen of sugarcane. Similar to TALEs, albicidin has advanced as a virulence issue that favors the pathogen’s an infection of host vegetation. On this case, albicidin is a phytotoxin that inhibits DNA gyrase — a crucial DNA replication enzyme in plant chloroplasts — killing the plant cell in consequence. On condition that chloroplasts are evolutionarily associated to micro organism, it turned out that albicidin can even kill varied micro organism, subsequently qualifying as an antibiotic with therapeutic potential.
Albicidin was back in the news very recently. My colleague Dmitry Ghilarov who not too long ago joined our campus on the John Innes Centre resolved the structure of albicidin in complex with DNA gyrase and a DNA fragment, demonstrating that the molecule obstructs the gyrase enzyme, retaining it away from performing on the DNA.
This work opens up alternatives for bettering the antibiotic and medical properties of albicidin. It may additionally assist delay the emergence of albicidin-resistant micro organism, which have been shown to arise by means of a rise within the copy variety of the gyrase gene.
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