Department of Biology, Molecular Plant Physiology, Staudtstraße 5, 91058, Erlangen, Germany.
Center for Plant Molecular Biology, Auf der Morgenstelle 32, 72076, Tübingen, Germany.
Nat Commun. 2020 Oct 20;11(1):5299. doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-19147-4.
Parasitic plants of the genus Cuscuta penetrate shoots of host plants with haustoria and build a connection to the host vasculature to exhaust water, solutes and carbohydrates. Such infections usually stay unrecognized by the host and lead to harmful host plant damage. Here, we show a molecular mechanism of how plants can sense parasitic Cuscuta. We isolated an 11 kDa protein of the parasite cell wall and identified it as a glycine-rich protein (GRP). This GRP, as well as its minimal peptide epitope Crip21, serve as a pathogen-associated molecular pattern and specifically bind and activate a membrane-bound immune receptor of tomato, the Cuscuta Receptor 1 (CuRe1), leading to defense responses in resistant hosts. These findings provide the initial steps to understand the resistance mechanisms against parasitic plants and further offer great potential for protecting crops by engineering resistance against parasitic plants.
菟丝子属寄生植物通过吸器穿透寄主植物的茎干，并与寄主维管束建立联系，以耗尽水分、溶质和碳水化合物。这种感染通常不会被宿主察觉，从而导致宿主植物受到有害的损害。在这里，我们展示了植物如何感知寄生菟丝子的分子机制。我们从寄生虫细胞壁中分离出一种 11kDa 的蛋白质，并将其鉴定为富含甘氨酸的蛋白质（GRP）。这种 GRP 及其最小肽表位 Crip21 可作为一种病原体相关分子模式，特异性地结合并激活番茄的一种膜结合免疫受体——菟丝子受体 1（CuRe1），从而在抗性宿主中引发防御反应。这些发现为理解抗寄生植物的机制提供了初步步骤，并为通过工程手段培育抗寄生植物来保护作物提供了巨大潜力。
