Influence of insertion sequences on population structure of phytopathogenic bacteria in the Ralstonia solanacearum species complex

Abstract

Ralstonia solanacearum species complex (RSSC) is a destructive group of plant pathogenic bacteria and the causative agent of bacterial wilt disease. Experimental studies have attributed RSSC virulence to insertion sequences (IS), transposable genetic elements which can both disrupt and activate host genes. Yet, the global diversity and distribution of RSSC IS are unknown. In this study, IS were bioinformatically identified in a diverse collection of 356 RSSC strains representing four phylogenetic lineages, and their diversity investigated based on genetic distance measures and comparisons with the ISFinder database. IS distributions were characterised using metadata on RSSC lineage classification and potential gene disruptions by IS were determined based on their proximity to coding sequences. In total, we found 24,732 IS belonging to eleven IS families and 26 IS subgroups, with over half of the IS found in the megaplasmid. While IS families were generally widespread across the RSSC phylogeny, IS subgroups showed strong lineage-specific distributions and genetically similar bacterial strains had similar IS contents. Further, IS present in multiple lineages were generally found in different genomic regions suggesting potential recent horizontal transfer. Finally, IS were found to disrupt many genes with predicted functions in virulence, stress tolerance, and metabolism, suggesting that they might be adaptive. This study highlights that RSSC insertion sequences track the evolution of their bacterial hosts, potentially contributing to both intra- and inter-lineage genetic diversity.