Communication between bacteria of different species
A study on the ‘olive scab’ showed that the disease state of a plant is maintained both by the pathogenic bacteria from innocuous. A team of researchers led by Vittorio Venturi of the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB) in Trieste found that harmless bacteria and pathogens are able to communicate and thus establish the true coalitions.
Venturi said, “With this study we wanted to find out whether or not the communication between different species in the onset of bacterial diseases. As a model study we used the ‘olive scab’ because the bacterium Pseudomonas savastanoi are almost always associated two other species of bacteria Pantoea agglomerans and Erwinia toletana, harmless bacteria and settled on the outer surface of plants”.
In fact, the researchers analyzed the bacteria on the plants and their behavior during the pathogenesis and propagation of one of the most common diseases of plants, the ‘olive scab’.
“The experiments show that the virulence of Pseudomonas savastanoi depends on the communication signals, and in particular its lack of signals can be compensated by signals induced by Pantoea agglomerans and Erwinia toletana. This allows us to understand that some vegetables can be polymicrobial diseases and fight them would be enough to stop the synergistic action of both types of bacteria and exploit the post-molecules to create new therapeutic methods”, concluded Venturi.
The results of the research, conducted with the Institute of Agriculture Hassan II Agadir in Morocco and at the University of Perugia, were published in the journals International Society for Microbial Ecology and Nature Journal Middle East.
