pigB determines a diffusible factor needed for extracellular polysaccharide slime and xanthomonadin production in...

Seven xanthomonadin transcriptional units (pigA through pigG) were identified by transposon saturation mutagenesis within an 18.6-kbp portion of the previously identified 25.4-kbp pig region from Xanthomonas campestris pv. campestris (strain B-24). Since marker exchange mutant strains with insertions in one 3.7-kbp portion of pig could not be obtained, mutations in this region may be lethal to the bacterium. Complementation analyses with different insertion mutations further defined and confirmed the seven transcriptional units. Insertional inactivation of one of the transcriptional units, pigB, resulted in greatly reduced levels of both xanthomonadins and extracellular polysaccharide slime, and a pigB-encoding plasmid restored both traits to these strains. pigB mutant strains could also be restored extracellularly by growth adjacent to strains with insertion mutations in any of the other six xanthomonadin transcriptional units, the parent strain (B-24), or strains of five different species of Xanthomonas. Strain B-24 produced a nontransforming diffusible factor (DF), which could be restored to pigB mutants by the pigB-encoding plasmid. Several lines of evidence indicate that DF is a novel bacterial pheromone, different from the known signal molecules of Vibrio, Agrobacterium, Erwinia, Pseudomonas, and Burkholderia spp.