Yu Haiyue, Shi Xuetao, Ning Na, Wu Hongliang, Mei Jie, Gu Xiaoyu, Ruan Hongchun, Zhang Mingcai, Li Zhiqiang, Ma Shoucai, Liu Wende
State Key Laboratory for Biology of Plant Diseases and Insect Pests, Institute of Plant Protection, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100193, China.
Xianghu Laboratory, Hangzhou 311231, China.
Cell Rep. 2025 Apr 22;44(4):115501. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2025.115501. Epub 2025 Apr 1.
Some pathogen-derived effectors reprogram mRNA splicing in host plants to regulate plant immune responses. Whether effectors from Exserohilum turcicum, which causes northern corn leaf blight (NLB), interfere with RNA splicing remains unknown. We identify that the secreted protein EtEC81 (Exserohilum turcicum effector 81) modulates the alternative splicing (AS) of maize (Zea mays) pre-mRNAs and negatively regulates the pathogenicity of E. turcicum. EtEC81 physically interacts with MAIZE EtEC81-INTERACTING PROTEIN 1 (ZmEIP1), which associates with maize spliceosome components, modulates AS in host cells, and positively regulates defense responses against E. turcicum. Transcriptome analysis identifies 119 common events with altered AS in maize plants transiently overexpressing ZmEIP1 or EtEC81, suggesting that these factors cause the misregulation of cellular activities and thus induce immune responses. Together, our results suggest that the EtEC81 effector targets ZmEIP1 to reprogram pre-mRNA splicing in maize. These findings provide a mechanistic basis and potential target gene for preventing NLB.
一些病原体衍生的效应子会重新编程宿主植物中的mRNA剪接，以调节植物免疫反应。引起玉米大斑病（NLB）的大斑凸脐蠕孢菌的效应子是否会干扰RNA剪接仍不清楚。我们发现分泌蛋白EtEC81（大斑凸脐蠕孢菌效应子81）调节玉米（Zea mays）前体mRNA的可变剪接（AS），并负向调节大斑凸脐蠕孢菌的致病性。EtEC81与玉米EtEC81相互作用蛋白1（ZmEIP1）发生物理相互作用，ZmEIP1与玉米剪接体成分相关联，调节宿主细胞中的AS，并正向调节对大斑凸脐蠕孢菌的防御反应。转录组分析确定了在瞬时过表达ZmEIP1或EtEC81的玉米植株中119个AS改变的常见事件，表明这些因子导致细胞活动的失调，从而诱导免疫反应。总之，我们的结果表明EtEC81效应子靶向ZmEIP1以重新编程玉米中的前体mRNA剪接。这些发现为预防玉米大斑病提供了机制基础和潜在的靶基因。
