Proposed Guidelines for a Unified Nomenclature and Phylogenetic Analysis of Type III Hop Effector Proteins in the Plant Pathogen Pseudomonas syringae

Authors

Magdalen Lindeberg, Cornell UniversityFollow
John Stavrinides, University of TorontoFollow
Jeffrey H. Chang, University of North Carolina
James R. Alfano, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Alan Collmer, Cornell UniversityFollow
Jeffrey L. Dangl, University of North CarolinaFollow
Jean T. Greenberg, University of ChicagoFollow
John W. Mansfield, Imperial College LondonFollow
David S. Guttman, University of TorontoFollow

ORCID IDs

James R. Alfano

Date of this Version

4-2005

Citation

Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions Apr 2005, Volume 18, Number 4, pp. 275–282. DOI: 10.1094/MPMI -18-0275.

Comments

Copyright 2005 The American Phytopathological Society. Used by permission.

Abstract

Pathovars of Pseudomonas syringae interact with their plant hosts via the action of Hrp outer protein (Hop) effector proteins, injected into plant cells by the type III secretion system (TTSS). Recent availability of complete genome sequences for a number of P. syringae pathovars has led to a significant increase in the rate of effector discovery. However, lack of a systematic nomenclature has resulted in multiple names being assigned to the same Hop, unrelated Hops designated by the same alphabetic character, and failure of name choices to reflect consistent standards of experimental confirmation or phylogenetic relatedness. Therefore, specific experimental and bioinformatic criteria are proposed for proteins to be designated as Hops. A generic Hop name structure, HopXY#_{pv strain}, also is proposed, wherein family membership is indicated by the alphabetic characters, subgroup membership numerically, and source pathovar and strain in subscript. Guidelines are provided for phylogenetic characterization and name selection for Hops that are novel, related to previously characterized Hops, chimeras, pseudogenes, truncations, or nonexpressed alleles. Phylogenetic analyses of previously characterized Hops are described, the results of which have been used to guide their integration into the proposed nomenclature.