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Journal of Bacteriology, August 2005, p. 5560-5567, Vol. 187, No. 16
0021-9193/05/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JB.187.16.5560-5567.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Upstream Migration of Xylella fastidiosa via Pilus-Driven Twitching Motility{dagger}

Yizhi Meng,1 Yaxin Li,1 Cheryl D. Galvani,1 Guixia Hao,1 James N. Turner,2 Thomas J. Burr,1 and H. C. Hoch1*

Department of Plant Pathology, Cornell University—New York State Agricultural Experiment Station, Geneva, New York,1 New York State Department of Health, Wadsworth Center, Empire State Plaza, Albany, New York2

Received 18 March 2005/ Accepted 25 May 2005

Xylella fastidiosa is a xylem-limited nonflagellated bacterium that causes economically important diseases of plants by developing biofilms that block xylem sap flow. How the bacterium is translocated downward in the host plant's vascular system against the direction of the transpiration stream has long been a puzzling phenomenon. Using microfabricated chambers designed to mimic some of the features of xylem vessels, we discovered that X. fastidiosa migrates via type IV-pilus-mediated twitching motility at speeds up to 5 µm min–1 against a rapidly flowing medium (20,000 µm min–1). Electron microscopy revealed that there are two length classes of pili, long type IV pili (1.0 to 5.8 µm) and short type I pili (0.4 to 1.0 µm). We further demonstrated that two knockout mutants (pilB and pilQ mutants) that are deficient in type IV pili do not twitch and are inhibited from colonizing upstream vascular regions in planta. In addition, mutants with insertions in pilB or pilQ (possessing type I pili only) express enhanced biofilm formation, whereas a mutant with an insertion in fimA (possessing only type IV pili) is biofilm deficient.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Plant Pathology, Cornell University—New York State Agricultural Experiment Station, Geneva, NY 14456. Phone: (315) 787-2332. Fax: (315) 787-2389. E-mail: hch1{at}cornell.edu.

{dagger} Supplemental material for this article may be found at http://jb.asm.org/.

Journal of Bacteriology, August 2005, p. 5560-5567, Vol. 187, No. 16
0021-9193/05/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JB.187.16.5560-5567.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



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