Erwinia amylovora Type III Secretion System Inhibitors Reduce Fire Blight Infection Under Field Conditions

Fire blight, caused by , is an economically important disease in apples and pears worldwide. This pathogen relies on the type III secretion system (T3SS) to cause disease. Compounds that inhibit the function of the T3SS (T3SS inhibitors) have emerged as alternative strategies for bacterial plant disease management, as they block bacterial virulence without affecting growth, unlike traditional antibiotics. In this study, we investigated the mode of action of a T3SS inhibitor named TS108, a plant phenolic acid derivative, in . We showed that adding TS108 to an in vitro culture of repressed the expression of several T3SS regulon genes, including the master regulator gene . Further studies demonstrated that TS108 negatively regulates CsrB, a global regulatory small RNA, at the posttranscriptional level, resulting in a repression of , which encodes a key activator of . Additionally, TS108 has no impact on the expression of T3SS in or , suggesting that its inhibition of the T3SS is likely species specific. To better evaluate the performance of T3SS inhibitors in fire blight management, we conducted five independent field experiments in four states (Michigan, New York, Oregon, and Connecticut) from 2015 to 2022 and observed reductions in blossom blight incidence as high as 96.7% compared with untreated trees. In summary, the T3SS inhibitors exhibited good efficacy against fire blight.