Pseudomonas syringae pv. actinidiae Effector HopAU1 Interacts with Calcium-Sensing Receptor to Activate Plant Immunity.

Jinlong Zhang, Mingxia Zhou, Wei Liu, Jiajun Nie, Lili Huang

International journal of molecular sciences 2022 Jan 03

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Kiwifruit canker, caused by Pseudomonas syringae pv. actinidiae (Psa), is a destructive pathogen that globally threatens the kiwifruit industry. Understanding the molecular mechanism of plant-pathogen interaction can accelerate applying resistance breeding and controlling plant diseases. All known effectors secreted by pathogens play an important role in plant-pathogen interaction. However, the effectors in Psa and their function mechanism remain largely unclear. Here, we successfully identified a T3SS effector HopAU1 which had no virulence contribution to Psa, but could, however, induce cell death and activate a series of immune responses by agroinfiltration in Nicotiana benthamiana, including elevated transcripts of immune-related genes, accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), and callose deposition. We found that HopAU1 interacted with a calcium sensing receptor in N. benthamiana (NbCaS) as well as its close homologue in kiwifruit (AcCaS). More importantly, silencing CaS by RNAi in N. benthamiana greatly attenuated HopAU1-triggered cell death, suggesting CaS is a crucial component for HopAU1 detection. Further researches showed that overexpression of NbCaS in N. benthamiana significantly enhanced plant resistance against Sclerotinia sclerotiorum and Phytophthora capsici, indicating that CaS serves as a promising resistance-related gene for disease resistance breeding. We concluded that HopAU1 is an immune elicitor that targets CaS to trigger plant immunity.

Citation

Jinlong Zhang, Mingxia Zhou, Wei Liu, Jiajun Nie, Lili Huang. Pseudomonas syringae pv. actinidiae Effector HopAU1 Interacts with Calcium-Sensing Receptor to Activate Plant Immunity. International journal of molecular sciences. 2022 Jan 03;23(1)