Soil-born pathogen that naturally infects plant roots. Ralstonia pseudosolanacearum GMI1000

Ralstonia solanacearum strain GMI1000. This strain is a race 1 strain isolated from the tomato plant and is also pathogenic on Arabidopsis thaliana. It specifically invades the plant xylem. Pathogenicity factors include an extracellular polysaccharide that protects the bacterium and a type III secretion system (the hrp system) that is encoded on the megaplasmid and delivers effector molecules such as avirulence (Avr) proteins into the host cell. There is a type II secretion system for export of degradative enzymes such as plant cell wall hydrolases. This organism expresses a large number of outer membrane proteins including several that are related to hemagglutinins, as well as numerous fimbriae, including a type IV pilus for attachment and twitching motility. The two chromosomes contains many copies of insertion elements.