Researchers have figured out how a once-defeated bacterium has re-emerged to infect cotton in a battle that could sour much of the Texas and U.S. crop.
Researchers have figured out how a once-defeated bacterium has re-emerged to infect cotton in a battle that could sour much of the Texas and U.S. crop.
And it boils down to this: A smart bacteria with a sweet tooth.
“It’s a food fight between the bacterium and the cotton plant,” said Dr. Libo Shan, Texas A&M AgriLife Research plant pathologist in College Station. “The bacterium tricks the host to produce food for itself. But once the bacterium is in the plant, it saves its own resources and switches the plant’s transportation of sugar to itself. The host plant is deprived of sugar needed for energy, can’t get rid of the bacteria and the disease progresses. This bacterium is very smart.”
The discovery is in the May 24 edition of the journal Nature Communications.
The disease is bacterial blight caused by Xanthomonas citri subspecies malvacearum, otherwise known as Xcm. Decades ago, it wiped out thousands of cotton acres annually, showing up first as brown spots on leaves, stems and even bolls then spreading until a plant – indeed entire fields of plants – dropped leaves and stopped growing. It’s equally devastating on rice and cassava, Shan said.
Read more at Texas A&M Agrilife Communications
Image: Texas A&M AgriLife Research's Dr. Libo Shan, left, and doctoral student Kevin Cox have figured out how a once-defeated bacterium has re-emerged to infect cotton in a battle that could sour much of the Texas and US crop. And it boils down to this: A smart bacteria with a sweet tooth. (Credit: Texas A&M AgriLife Research photo by Kathleen Phillips)
