CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. citri (Xac) is the causative agent of citrus canker. Previous works in our laboratory demostrated that this bacteria is able to produce a functional biofilm in in vitro and in vivo experiment. A biofilm is a community of bacteria embedded in a extracellular matrix that can be attached to a surface. This structure is believed to provide protection to bacteria from environmental aggressiveness. Biofilm formation involves the attachment of free-leaving bacteria facilitating the attachment of others. The biofilm grows through cell division and recruitment of new cells. In the final stages the biofilm changes and water channels appear. The shape becomes mushroom like. In this work we evaluate the motility of Xac fliC (flagelin gene) and Xac flgE (hook gene) mutants, involved in flagella structure, XacFhaB a non fimbrial adhesin protein, rpfF and rpfC (genes involved in quorum sensing) mutants and there capacity to produce biofilm compared with wild type strain. By using confocal laser scanning microscopy we analized the biofilm formation of these mutants comparing them with wild type Xac. Swimming and swarming motility studies show differences between mutants and wild type strains.