Elsinochrome (ESC), light-activated, nonhost-selective phytotoxin, is produced by many members of the genus Elsinoë and required for full virulence of the fungus. It appears that approaches disrupting the ESC production will likely reduce disease severity caused by Elsinoë pathogens. In this study, the influence of nutritional and environmental factors on ESC biosynthesis by the citrus scab pat...

F1-ATPase is the smallest mechanical motor known. Tentoxin, a cyclic peptide produced by phytopathogenic fungi, inactivates the F1 motor in sensitive plants at nanomolar to micromolar concentrations, whereas higher concentrations surpass the natural activity of the enzyme. Single molecule studies now have clarified the molecular steps involved in both processes. Inactivation delays the dwell ti...

Syringomycin, a peptide toxin and a virulence factor produced by the bacterial phytopathogen Pseudomonas syringae pv. syringae, stimulated the phosphorylation of several plasma membrane polypeptides of red beet storage tissue. Among these was a 100-kDa polypeptide, which corresponds in size to the proton pump ATPase. The phosphorylations were insensitive to hydroxylamine, indicating that the po...

Coronatine (COR) is a plasmid-encoded phytotoxin synthesized by several pathovars of phytopathogenic Pseudomonas syringae. The COR biosynthetic gene cluster in P. syringae pv. glycinea PG4180 is encoded by a 32-kb region which contains both the structural and regulatory genes needed for COR synthesis. The regulatory region contains three genes: corP, corS, and corR. corS is thought to function ...

Cfa1 was overproduced in Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas syringae, and the degree of 4'-phosphopantetheinylation was determined. The malonyl-coenzyme A:acyl carrier protein transacylase (FabD) of P. syringae was overproduced and shown to catalyze malonylation of Cfa1, suggesting that FabD plays a role in coronatine biosynthesis. Highly purified Cfa1 did not exhibit self-malonylation activity.

Toxoflavin, a 7-azapteridine phytotoxin produced by the bacterial pathogens such as Burkholderia glumae and Burkholderia gladioli, has been known as one of the key virulence factors in crop diseases. Because the toxoflavin had an antibacterial activity, a metagenomic E. coli clone capable of growing well in the presence of toxoflavin (30 μg/ml) was isolated and the first metagenome-derived toxo...

The allelopathic effects of different parts of the plant Xanthium italicum Moretti were evaluated by conducting bioassays against two dicot plants, amaranth (Amaranthus mangostanus L.) and lettuce (Lectuca sativa L.), and two monocot plants, wheat (Triticum aestivum Linn) and ryegrass (Lolium multiforum). Leaf and fruit extract possessed the strongest biological activity, killing all seeds of f...