Plant pathogens cause important losses in crop production every year. Ralstonia solanacearum, the causal agent of the bacterial wilt disease, is one of the most destructive pathogens worldwide. In recent years, it has become evident that R. solanacearum is an excellent model to study plant-pathogen interactions, specially using its type-III secreted effectors (T3Es) as probes to discover new plant functions associated to biotic stress. T3Es have been shown to suppress plant immunity using multiple different strategies, but also to target plant physiological functions that allow bacteria to shape the niche into a favourable environment for bacterial proliferation. Moreover, R. solanacearum is known to employ other unique strategies to evade plant immunity, and therefore it is essential to improve our understanding of these strategies in order to generate sustainable resistance against bacterial wilt disease in crops. In this talk, I will give an overview of the strategies followed in our group aimed at understanding alterations in plant signalling, metabolism, and hormonal balances, mediated by R. solanacearum T3Es, underlying both immune responses and bacterial virulence activities. I will also describe in more detail specific T3E activities targeted to the manipulation of plant metabolism and development in order to support bacterial proliferation.