• Media type: E-Article
  • Title: Exploiting breakdown in nonhost effector–target interactions to boost host disease resistance
  • Contributor: McLellan, Hazel; Harvey, Sarah E.; Steinbrenner, Jens; Armstrong, Miles R.; He, Qin; Clewes, Rachel; Pritchard, Leighton; Wang, Wei; Wang, Shumei; Nussbaumer, Thomas; Dohai, Bushra; Luo, Qingquan; Kumari, Priyanka; Duan, Hui; Roberts, Ana; Boevink, Petra C.; Neumann, Christina; Champouret, Nicolas; Hein, Ingo; Falter-Braun, Pascal; Beynon, Jim; Denby, Katherine; Birch, Paul R. J.
  • Published: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2022
  • Published in: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 119 (2022) 35
  • Language: English
  • DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2114064119
  • ISSN: 0027-8424; 1091-6490
  • Origination:
  • Footnote:
  • Description: Plants are resistant to most microbial species due to nonhost resistance (NHR), providing broad-spectrum and durable immunity. However, the molecular components contributing to NHR are poorly characterised. We address the question of whether failure of pathogen effectors to manipulate nonhost plants plays a critical role in NHR. RxLR (Arg-any amino acid-Leu-Arg) effectors from two oomycete pathogens, Phytophthora infestans and Hyaloperonospora arabidopsidis , enhanced pathogen infection when expressed in host plants ( Nicotiana benthamiana and Arabidopsis, respectively) but the same effectors performed poorly in distantly related nonhost pathosystems. Putative target proteins in the host plant potato were identified for 64 P . infestans RxLR effectors using yeast 2-hybrid (Y2H) screens. Candidate orthologues of these target proteins in the distantly related non-host plant Arabidopsis were identified and screened using matrix Y2H for interaction with RxLR effectors from both P . infestans and H . arabidopsidis . Few P . infestans effector-target protein interactions were conserved from potato to candidate Arabidopsis target orthologues (cAtOrths). However, there was an enrichment of H . arabidopsidis RxLR effectors interacting with cAtOrths. We expressed the cAtOrth AtPUB33, which unlike its potato orthologue did not interact with P . infestans effector PiSFI3, in potato and Nicotiana benthamiana. Expression of AtPUB33 significantly reduced P . infestans colonization in both host plants. Our results provide evidence that failure of pathogen effectors to interact with and/or correctly manipulate target proteins in distantly related non-host plants contributes to NHR. Moreover, exploiting this breakdown in effector-nonhost target interaction, transferring effector target orthologues from non-host to host plants is a strategy to reduce disease.
  • Access State: Open Access