Metabolic hijacking: how Xanthomonas feeds on plant sugars
Kanwal F, Riaz A, Wang S, Zhou K, Fernie AR and Yang J
Trends in Plant Science
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tplants.2026.04.021
Abstract
Xanthomonas pathogens threaten hundreds of crops by manipulating host metabolism for nutrient supply. Phan et al. and Wang et al. reveal two distinct effector strategies: hijacking fruit-ripening to release cell-wall sugars, and synthesizing xanthosan as a dedicated bacterial nutrient. These discoveries point to new resistance strategies for crop protection.
