SummaryBacteria within the Ralstonia solanacearum species complex cause devastating diseases in numerous crops, causing important losses in food production and industrial supply. Despite extensive efforts to enhance plant tolerance to disease caused by Ralstonia, efficient and sustainable approaches are still missing. Before, we found that Ralstonia promotes the production of gamma‐aminobutyric acid (GABA) in plant cells; GABA can be used as a nutrient by Ralstonia to sustain the massive bacterial replication during plant colonization. In this work, we used CRISPR‐Cas9‐mediated genome editing to mutate SlGAD2, which encodes the major glutamate decarboxylase responsible for GABA production in tomato, a major crop affected by Ralstonia. The resulting Slgad2 mutant plants show reduced GABA content, and enhanced tolerance to bacterial wilt disease upon Ralstonia inoculation. Slgad2 mutant plants did not show altered susceptibility to other tested biotic and abiotic stresses, including drought and heat. Interestingly, Slgad2 mutant plants showed altered microbiome composition in roots and soil. We reveal a strategy to enhance plant resistance to Ralstonia by the manipulation of plant metabolism leading to an impairment of bacterial fitness. This approach could be particularly efficient in combination with other strategies based on the manipulation of the plant immune system, paving the way to a sustainable solution to Ralstonia in agricultural systems.

中文翻译：

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γ-氨基丁酸含量降低增强了番茄对细菌性枯萎病的抵抗力


摘要Ralstonia solanacearum 物种复合体中的细菌会在许多作物中引起毁灭性的疾病，对食品生产和工业供应造成重大损失。尽管付出了广泛的努力来提高植物对 Ralstonia 引起的疾病的耐受性，但仍然缺乏有效和可持续的方法。之前，我们发现 Ralstonia 促进植物细胞中 γ-氨基丁酸 （GABA） 的产生;GABA 可以被 Ralstonia 用作营养物质，以维持植物定植过程中的大量细菌复制。在这项工作中，我们使用 CRISPR-Cas9 介导的基因组编辑来突变 SlGAD2，它编码负责番茄产生 GABA 的主要谷氨酸脱羧酶，番茄是受 Ralstonia 影响的主要作物。所得的 Slgad2 突变植物在 Ralstonia 接种后显示 GABA 含量降低，并且对细菌性枯萎病的耐受性增强。Slgad2 突变植物未表现出对其他测试的生物和非生物胁迫（包括干旱和高温）的易感性改变。有趣的是，Slgad2 突变植物在根和土壤中显示出微生物组组成改变。我们揭示了一种策略，通过操纵植物代谢来增强植物对 Ralstonia 的抗性，从而导致细菌适应性受损。这种方法与其他基于植物免疫系统操纵的策略相结合可能特别有效，为农业系统中 Ralstonia 的可持续解决方案铺平了道路。