SummaryWe have devised a novel, high-throughput functional cloning method to isolate cDNAs from plant pathogens of which the products elicit a hypersensitive response (HR) in plants. Copy DNA, made from RNA isolated from the tomato pathogen Cladosporium fulvum grown under nutrient-limiting conditions in vitro, was cloned into a binary, potato virus X (PVX)-based expression vector and transformed to Agrobacterium tumefaciens. 9600 colonies were individually toothpick-inoculated onto lea¯ets of tomato plants resistant to C. fulvum. Four cDNAs were identi®ed whose expression induced formation of a necrotic lesion around the inoculation site. One of these clones, speci®cally inducing HR on tomato plants carrying the Cf-4 resistance gene, encodes race-speci®c elicitor AVR4. The other three cDNAs, inducing a non-genotype-speci®c HR, encode a protein highly homologous to bZIP, basic transcription factors. To determine whether this approach has general applicability, part of the library was also inoculated onto Nicotiana tabacum var. Samsun NN, which is not a host for C. fulvum. Four independent HR-inducing cDNAs were identi®ed which all encode ECP2, an extracellular protein of C. fulvum known to induce necrosis in certain Nicotiana species. These observations con®rm that this functional screening method is a versatile strategy to identify cDNAs of pathogens that encode (race-speci®c) elicitors and other HR-inducing proteins.

Summary The Cf‐2 gene of tomato confers resistance to strains of the biotrophic pathogenic fungus Cladosporium fulvum carrying avirulence gene Avr2. To allow dissection of the biochemical mechanism of perception of AVR2 by Cf‐2, we set out to clone the Avr2 gene. Here, we report the functional cloning of Avr2 cDNA, based on the induction of a hypersensitive response (HR) by the encoded AVR2 protein in Cf2 tomato plants. Analysis of strains of C. fulvum that are virulent on Cf2 tomato lines revealed various independent frameshift mutations in the Avr2 open reading frame (ORF) and a point mutation resulting in a premature stop codon. All modifications result in the production of truncated AVR2 proteins. Interestingly, an additional modification involves the insertion of a LINE‐like element, Cfl1, in the Avr2 ORF. Cfl1 is the first LINE‐like element identified in C. fulvum and provides the first example of loss of avirulence of a plant pathogen caused by insertion of a retrotransposable element in an Avr gene. Rcr3 represents an additional plant protein that is specifically required for Cf‐2‐mediated resistance. Analysis of two different rcr3 mutant Cf2 tomato plants revealed that their ability to respond to AVR2 with a HR correlates with their degree of resistance to AVR2‐producing strains of C. fulvum. These data support a role for Rcr3 in the perception of AVR2 by Cf‐2.

A newly isolated methanogen, strain DMS1T, is the first obligately anaerobic archaeon which was directly enriched and isolated from a freshwater sediment in defined minimal medium containing dimethyl sulfide (DMS) as the sole carbon and energy source. The use of a chemostat with a continuous DMS-containing gas stream as a method of enrichment, followed by cultivation in deep agar tubes, resulted in a pure culture. Since the only substrates utilized by strain DMS1T are methanol, methylamines, methanethiol (MT), and DMS, this organism is considered an obligately methylotrophic methanogen like most other DMS-degrading methanogens. Strain DMS1T differs from all other DMS-degrading methanogens, since it was isolated from a freshwater pond and requires NaCl concentrations (0 to 0.04 M) typical of the NaCl concentrations required by freshwater microorganisms for growth. DMS was degraded effectively only in a chemostat culture in the presence of low hydrogen sulfide and MT concentrations. Addition of MT or sulfide to the chemostat significantly decreased degradation of DMS. Transient accumulation of DMS in MT-amended cultures indicated that transfer of the first methyl group during DMS degradation is a reversible process. On the basis of its low level of homology with the most closely related methanogen, Methanococcoides burtonii (94.5%), its position on the phylogenetic tree, its morphology (which is different from that of members of the genera Methanolobus,Methanococcoides, and Methanohalophilus), and its salt tolerance and optimum (which are characteristic of freshwater bacteria), we propose that strain DMS1T is a representative of a novel genus. This isolate was named Methanomethylovorans hollandica. Analysis of DMS-amended sediment slurries with a fluorescence microscope revealed the presence of methanogens which were morphologically identical to M. hollandica, as described in this study. Considering its physiological properties, M. hollandica DMS1T is probably responsible for degradation of MT and DMS in freshwater sediments in situ. Due to the reversibility of the DMS conversion, methanogens like strain DMS1T can also be involved in the formation of DMS through methylation of MT. This phenomenon, which previously has been shown to occur in sediment slurries of freshwater origin, might affect the steady-state concentrations and, consequently, the total flux of DMS and MT in these systems.

Although several microorganisms that produce and degrade methanethiol (MT) and dimethyl sulfide (DMS) have been isolated from various habitats, little is known about the numbers of these microorganisms in situ. This study reports on the identification and quantification of microorganisms involved in the cycling of MT and DMS in freshwater sediments. Sediment incubation studies revealed that the formation of MT and DMS is well balanced with their degradation. MT formation depends on the concentrations of both sulfide and methyl group-donating compounds. A most-probable number (MPN) dilution series with syringate as the growth substrate showed that methylation of sulfide with methyl groups derived from syringate is a commonly occurring process in situ. MT appeared to be primarily degraded by obligately methylotrophic methanogens, which were found in the highest positive dilutions on DMS and mixed substrates (methanol, trimethylamine [TMA], and DMS). Amplified ribosomal DNA restriction analysis (ARDRA) and 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis of the total DNA isolated from the sediments and of the DNA isolated from the highest positive dilutions of the MPN series (mixed substrates) revealed that the methanogens that are responsible for the degradation of MT, DMS, methanol, and TMA in situ are all phylogenetically closely related to Methanomethylovorans hollandica. This was confirmed by sequence analysis of the product obtained from a nested PCR developed for the selective amplification of the 16S rRNA gene from M. hollandica. The data from sediment incubation experiments, MPN series, and molecular-genetics detection correlated well and provide convincing evidence for the suggested mechanisms for MT and DMS cycling and the common presence of the DMSdegrading methanogen M. hollandica in freshwater sediments.The cycling of dimethyl sulfide (DMS) and methanethiol (MT) has been intensively studied due to the impact the oxidation products of these compounds (e.g., methanesulfonic acid and SO 2 ) have on the processes of global warming, acid precipitation, and the global sulfur cycle (1,3,24). Previous research revealed that MT and DMS were the dominant volatile organic sulfur compounds (VOSC) in freshwater sediments and water columns (20). Fluxes of MT and DMS to the atmosphere depend on the steady-state concentrations of these compounds in the sediment and water surface layers. These steady-state concentrations are the result of biological (and chemical) production and degradation. Various studies reported that microbial production and degradation of these VOSC in freshwater, marine, estuarine, and salt lake sediments are relatively well balanced (15-18, 20-23; B. P. Lomans, J.-J. Wesselink, P. Bakkes, A. Pol, C. van der Drift, and H. J. M. Op den Camp, submitted for publication). In anaerobic freshwater sediments, formation of MT and DMS has been demonstrated to occur mainly by methylation of sulfide (7,(20)(21)(22)(23) Lomans et al., submitted) and to a lesser extent by the degradation of sulfur-containing amino acids (14...

The gene-for-gene model postulates that for every gene determining resistance in the host plant, there is a corresponding gene conditioning avirulence in the pathogen. On the basis of this relationship, products of resistance (R) genes and matching avirulence (Avr) genes are predicted to interact. Here, we report on binding studies between the R gene product Cf-9 of tomato and the Avr gene product AVR9 of the pathogenic fungus Cladosporium fulvum. Because a high-affinity binding site (HABS) for AVR9 is present in tomato lines, with or without the Cf-9 resistance gene, as well as in other solanaceous plants, the Cf-9 protein was produced in COS and insect cells in order to perform binding studies in the absence of the HABS. Binding studies with radio-labeled AVR9 were performed with Cf-9-producing COS and insect cells and with membrane preparations of such cells. Furthermore, the Cf-9 gene was introduced in tobacco, which is known to be able to produce a functional Cf-9 protein. Binding of AVR9 to Cf-9 protein produced in tobacco was studied employing surface plasmon resonance and surface-enhanced laser desorption and ionization. Specific binding between Cf-9 and AVR9 was not detected with any of the procedures. The implications of this observation are discussed.