This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Scientists have found how a protein produced by bacteria disrupts the mechanism that controls flower development in plants, turning reproductive organs into leaf-like structures. These findings shed light on a plant disease that is expected to spread as climate change expands the range of its insect vectors in northern latitudes.
They used a synchrotron technique at ESRF, the European Synchrotron in Grenoble, France. The results are an Editor's Pick in the Journal of Biological Chemistry. Phytoplasmas are bacteria that are transmitted to plants by insects.
Symptoms of the pathogen can range from triggering dwarfism in the plant to essentially reprogramming plant development: Instead of flowers, all floral organs—sepals, petals, stamens and carpels—are converted to leaves, affecting diverse crops such as sunflowers, sesame and grapevines. This effect can have economic consequences, as food might not be as readily available from damaged crops. For example, outbreaks of phytoplasma coconut lethal yellowing disease in Africa since the 1930s have led to devastating crop losses of up to 40% in Tanzania and 20% in Ghana.
In addition, climate change has increased the presence of insects at more northern latitudes, which increases the presence of phytoplasmas. "Understanding how the insects hijack the plant's own developmental machinery could help us find strategies to hopefully mitigate their impact on agriculture," explains Chloe Zubieta, a CEA researcher at Laboratoire de Physiologie Cellulaire et Végétale, an ESRF visiting scientist and leader of the study. Zubieta joined forces with ESRF scientists Mark Tully and Max Nanao to study a phytoplasma protein called PHYLOY (phyllogen protein from Candidatus Phytoplasma asteris, onion yellows strain), which interferes with the plant's normal development.
It does this by targeting plant proteins called MADS-box transcription factors (MTFs). MTFs play an important role in determining how a flower develops. They work together in groups of four, binding to DNA and switching on the genes that tell the plant which parts of the flower to produce.
The researchers used a synchrotron technique called small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) on ESRF's beamline BM29 to study how PHYLOY interacts with three important MTFs. Their experiments showed that PHYLOY can interact with a wider range of MTF combinations than previously thought. "We can observe flexibility in the data, and we think this corresponds to the interaction plasticity of phyllogen and host plant transcription factors," notes Tully, an ESRF scientist at BM29.
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