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Poster

Session: Session 2 Presenting Authors at Posters (Evens)

P-258 - Role of anaerobic respiration of carbon sources in the adaptation and survival of Dickeya dadantii

Thursday, July 17, 2025
13:30 - 15:15  
Location: Confex Hall 3
Nutrient exchange & role of metabolites in plant-microbe interactions

Phytopathogenic bacteria face many specific challenges when colonising plants to acquire nutrients. Recent studies have shown that nutrient assimilation during host infection is essential for virulence. To develop effective strategies against phytopathogens, it is crucial to understand the nutritional virulence mechanisms underlying their infection process. Today, systems biology, through in silico metabolic modelling, allows us to analyse the biological functions of an organism at the network level and gain insights into its metabolic versatility. In the case of the bacterium Dickeya dadantii, which can live in the anoxic environments of the rhizosphere and plant tissues, the ability to grow in anoxic conditions is an adaptive trait that favours its development and dissemination. We hypothesised that the ability to anaerobically respire the carbon compounds present in their environment is a physiological advantage for phytopathogenic bacteria. To explore this, we used an in silico metabolic model of D. dadantii to predict growth phenotypes on various substrates prior to experimental validation. Among the terminal electron acceptors identified in the apoplast, asparagine supported the highest in vitro growth. To further investigate its role, we generated mutants lacking key genes of the in silico-predicted asparagine respiration pathway. We assessed their impact on virulence in planta, aiming to elucidate the contribution of anaerobic respiration to D. dadantii infection.