The environmental bacterium Pseudomonas mosselii produces antagonistic secondary metabolites with inhibitory effects on multiple plant pathogens, including Ralstonia solanacearum, the causal agent of bacterial wilt. In this study, an engineered P. mosselii strain was generated to express R. solanacearum ripAA, which determines incompatible interactions with tobacco plants. The ripAA gene together with its native promoter was integrated into the P. mosselii chromosome. The resulting strain showed no difference in antimicrobial activity against R. solanacearum. Promoter-LacZ fusion and RT-PCR experiments demonstrated that the ripAA gene was transcribed in culture media. Compared with that of the wild type, the engineered strain reduced the disease index by 9.1% for bacterial wilt on tobacco plants. A transcriptome analysis was performed to identify differentially expressed genes in tobacco plants, and the results revealed that ethylene- and jasmonate-dependent defense signaling pathways were induced. These data demonstrated that the engineered P. mosselii expressing ripAA enables improved biological control against tobacco bacterial wilt by the activation of host defense responses.

An improved control efficacy against tobacco bacterial wilt by an engineered Pseudomonas mosselii expressing the ripAA gene from phytopathogenic Ralstonia solanacearum