Expression of the Arabidopsis thaliana immune receptor EFR in Medicago truncatula reduces infection by a root pathogenic bacterium, but not nitrogen-fixing rhizobial symbiosis.

ABSTRACT: Interfamily transfer of plant pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) represents a promising biotechnological approach to engineer broad-spectrum, and potentially durable, disease resistance in crops. It is however unclear whether new recognition specificities to given pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) affect the interaction of the recipient plant with beneficial microbes. To test this in a direct reductionist approach, we transferred the Brassicaceae-specific PRR ELONGATION FACTOR-THERMO UNSTABLE RECEPTOR (EFR), conferring recognition of the bacterial EF-Tu protein, from Arabidopsis thaliana to the legume Medicago truncatula. Constitutive EFR expression led to EFR accumulation and activation of immune responses upon treatment with the EF-Tu-derived elf18 peptide in leaves and ro

SUBMITTER: Pfeilmeier S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6381793 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature