Molecular and Genomic Characterization of the Pseudomonas syringae Phylogroup 4: An Emerging Pathogen of Arabidopsis thaliana and Nicotiana benthamiana

Environmental fluctuations such as increased temperature, water availability, and air CO2 concentration triggered by climate change influence plant disease dynamics by affecting hosts, pathogens, and their interactions. Here, we describe a newly discovered Pseudomonas syringae strain found in a natural population of Arabidopsis thaliana collected from the southwest of France. This strain, called Psy RAYR-BL, is highly virulent on natural Arabidopsis accessions, Arabidopsis model accession Columbia 0, and tobacco plants. Despite the severe disease phenotype caused by the Psy RAYR-BL strain, we identified a reduced repertoire of putative Type III virulence effectors by genomic sequencing compared to P. syringae pv tomato (Pst) DC3000. Furthermore, hopBJ1Psy is found exclusively on the Psy RAYR-BL genome but not in the Pst DC3000 genome. The plant expression of HopBJ1Psy induces ROS accumulation and cell death. In addition, HopBJ1Psy participates as a virulence factor in this plant-pathogen interaction, likely explaining the severity of the disease symptoms. This research describes the characterization of a newly discovered plant pathogen strain and possible virulence mechanisms underlying the infection process shaped by natural and changing environmental conditions.