Mechanistic modeling of light-induced chemotactic infiltration of bacteria into leaf stomata

PLoS Comput Biol. 2020 May 8;16(5):e1007841. doi: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1007841. eCollection 2020 May.

Abstract

Light is one of the factors that can play a role in bacterial infiltration into leafy greens by keeping stomata open and providing photosynthetic products for microorganisms. We model chemotactic transport of bacteria within a leaf tissue in response to photosynthesis occurring within plant mesophyll. The model includes transport of carbon dioxide, oxygen, bicarbonate, sucrose/glucose, bacteria, and autoinducer-2 within the leaf tissue. Biological processes of carbon fixation in chloroplasts, and respiration in mitochondria of the plant cells, as well as motility, chemotaxis, nutrient consumption and communication in the bacterial community are considered. We show that presence of light is enough to boost bacterial chemotaxis through the stomatal opening and toward photosynthetic products within the leaf tissue. Bacterial chemotactic ability is a major player in infiltration, and plant stomatal defense in closing the stomata as a perception of microbe-associated molecular patterns is an effective way to inhibit the infiltration.

Publication types

  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Bacterial Physiological Phenomena*
  • Carbon Dioxide / metabolism
  • Chemotaxis*
  • Light*
  • Models, Biological*
  • Plant Stomata / microbiology*
  • Plant Stomata / physiology

Substances

  • Carbon Dioxide

Grants and funding

Ashim K. Datta received the Grant 2014-70003-22357 from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (https://nifa.usda.gov/). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.