Centre for Crop and Disease Management, School of Molecular and Life Sciences, Curtin University, Bentley, Western Australia, Australia.
Plant Immunity Research Center, Seoul National University, Seoul, 08826, Republic of Korea.
Mol Plant Pathol. 2023 Aug;24(8):866-881. doi: 10.1111/mpp.13333. Epub 2023 Apr 10.
Sclerotinia sclerotiorum is a broad host range necrotrophic fungal pathogen, which causes disease on many economically important crop species. S. sclerotiorum has been shown to secrete small effector proteins to kill host cells and acquire nutrients. We set out to discover novel necrosis-inducing effectors and characterize their activity using transient expression in Nicotiana benthamiana leaves. Five intracellular necrosis-inducing effectors were identified with differing host subcellular localization patterns, which were named intracellular necrosis-inducing effector 1-5 (SsINE1-5). We show for the first time a broad host range pathogen effector, SsINE1, that uses an RxLR-like motif to enter host cells. Furthermore, we provide preliminary evidence that SsINE5 induces necrosis via an NLR protein. All five of the identified effectors are highly conserved in globally sourced S. sclerotiorum isolates. Taken together, these results advance our understanding of the virulence mechanisms employed by S. sclerotiorum and reveal potential avenues for enhancing genetic resistance to this damaging fungal pathogen.
核盘菌是一种寄主范围广泛的坏死性真菌病原体,可引起许多重要经济作物的病害。研究表明,核盘菌会分泌小的效应蛋白来杀死宿主细胞并获取营养。我们旨在发现新的坏死诱导效应子,并使用瞬时表达在本氏烟叶片中鉴定其活性。鉴定出 5 种具有不同宿主亚细胞定位模式的细胞内坏死诱导效应子,分别命名为细胞内坏死诱导效应子 1-5(SsINE1-5)。我们首次展示了一种广谱病原菌效应子 SsINE1,它使用 RxLR 样基序进入宿主细胞。此外,我们提供了初步证据表明 SsINE5 通过 NLR 蛋白诱导坏死。在全球来源的核盘菌分离物中,鉴定出的 5 种效应子均高度保守。总之,这些结果增进了我们对核盘菌所采用的毒力机制的理解,并揭示了增强对这种破坏性真菌病原体的遗传抗性的潜在途径。