Project description:Quorum sensing (QS) enhances bacterial pathogenesis. How plants perceive QS signals remains elusive. Here, we report that Arabidopsis thaliana perceives 2'-aminoacetophenone (2’-AA), a QS-regulated volatile compound emitted from Pseudomonas aeruginosa, through cell-surface pattern recognition receptor (PRR) complexes that require BRASSINOSTEROID INSENSITIVE 1-ASSOCIATED KINASE (BAK1). 2’-AA activates PRR-mediated immunity and enhances plant resistance to Pseudomonas pathogens. The 2’-AA-activated immunity displayed structural specificity of the elicitor and genetic specificity of the PRR complexes. 2’-AA induces in vivo protein interactions between BAK1 and its co-functioning PPRs, meanwhile the plant transcriptome responded to 2’-AA similarly as to flg22, a bacterial immunogenic elicitor that activates BAK1-dependent immunity. Hence bacterial QS signals can be sensed by plant cell-surface immune receptors.
Project description:Transcriptional overlap between transgenic Arabidopsis plants expressing C4G2A from the Tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV) and a cas-1 mutant upon activation of plant immunity by treatment with the bacterial peptide elicitor flg22 (1 µM, 12 h).
Project description:PAMP (Pathogen-Associated Molecular Pattern) recognition plays an important role in innate immune responses both in plants and animals. Lipopolysaccharides (LPS) of gram-negative bacteria are a typical PAMP molecule and have been reported to induce defense-related responses such as suppression of hypersensitive responses, defense gene espression and systemic resistance in plant. However the detailed analysis of these cellular responses and the molecular machinery involved in the perception and transduction of LPS molecule largely remains to be studied. Furthermore, the biological activities of LPS on plants have so far been reported only for dicots and no information is available on the action of LPS on monocots. We report here that bacterial LPSs, both from plant pathogens and non-pathogens, could induce various defense responses in rice cells, including reactive oxygen generation and defense gene expression. Global analysis of gene expression induced by two PAMP elicitors, LPS and chitin oligosaccharide elicitor, showed a close correlation between the gene responses induced by these elicitors, indicating the convergence of signaling cascades downstream of corresponding receptors. Further, we show that the defense responses induced by LPS are associated with programmed cell death, a finding so far not reported for LPS action on plant cells. Keywords: elicitor, defense, LPS, rice cell
Project description:To study the early events of priming response leading to changes in gene expression in Arabidopsis thaliana Col0 wild type plant on infiltration with the potent elicitor molecule Diffusible Signal Factor (DSF). In the present experimentation we have employed total RNA microarray expression profiling as a discovery platform to identify differentially expressing genes that are upregulated and down regulated in the various pathways involved in priming the defense responses by the elicitor molecule DSF on infiltration in the host plant Arabidopsis thaliana. This would help understand the possible defense pathways elicited by the elicitor molecule during interaction. The rosette leaves of Arabidopsis thaliana Col0 plants of 4 weeks old were infiltrated with 100uM DSF and the total RNA samples at 4hpi, 8hpi and 16hpi were extracted along with methanol treatment serving as a control in two biological replicates 1A and 2A. Further, these RNA samples were checked for the quality and subjected to microarray analysis. The differentially expressing candidate genes were identified specific to DSF treatment and were quantified by real-time PCR post DSF treatments.
Project description:Immune responses in plants are triggered in part by conserved microbe-associated molecular pattern (MAMP) molecules such as bacterial flagellin. Upon MAMP perception, plants rapidly turn on the induction of numerous defense-related genes. We have identified a novel type of plant innate immunity elicitor, protease IV from Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Genome-wide transcriptomic profiles obtained with Affymetrix Arabidopsis ATH1 GeneChips® of 10-day old Arabidopsis seedlings treated with 20 nM purified protease IV for 1 hour were compared to published bacterial flagellin- and oligogalacturonide-triggered responses. We used microarrays to characterize the global transcriptomic changes in Arabidopsis seedlings upon protease IV treatment.
Project description:Plant hormones and small secretory peptides often function as environmental stress mediators. Some recent reports indicate that small secretory peptides, such as CLAVATA3/EMBRYO SURROUNDING REGION-RELATED (CLE), also function as mediators of environmental stimuli. CLE3 is induced in roots by defense elicitor treatment. Plants without functional CLE3 showed compromized defense gene responses in shoots when plant roots were treated with NaSA. Here, we identified specific genes downstream of CLE3 in roots and shoots with transformed Arabidopsis plants.
Project description:Reactive oxygen species (ROS) production is a conserved immune response, primarily mediated in Arabidopsis by the respiratory burst oxidase homolog D (RBOHD), a nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) oxidase associated with the plasma membrane. A rapid increase in NADPH is necessary to fuel RBOHD proteins and hence maintain ROS production. However, the molecular mechanism underlying the NADPH generation for fueling RBOHD remains unclear. In this study, we isolated a new mutant allele of flagellin-insensitive 4 (FIN4), encoding the first enzyme in de novo NAD biosynthesis. fin4 mutants show reduced NADPH levels and impaired ROS production. However, FIN4 and other genes involved in the NAD- and NADPH-generating pathways are not highly upregulated upon elicitor treatment. Therefore, we hypothesized that a cytosolic NADP-linked dehydrogenase might be post-transcriptionally activated to keep the NADPH supply close to RBOHD. RPM1-INDUCED PROTEIN KINASE (RIPK), a receptor-like cytoplasmic kinase, regulates broad-spectrum ROS signaling in plant immunity. We then isolated the proteins associated with RIPK and identified NADP-malic enzyme 2 (NADP-ME2), an NADPH-generating enzyme. Compared with wild-type plants, nadp-me2 mutants display decreased NADP-ME activity, lower NADPH levels, as well as reduced ROS production in response to immune elicitors. Furthermore, we found that RIPK can directly phosphorylate NADP-ME2 and enhance its activity in vitro. The phosphorylation of NADP-ME2 S371 residue contributes to ROS production upon immune elicitor treatment and the susceptibility to the necrotrophic bacterium, Pectobacterium carotovorum. Overall, our study suggests that RIPK activates NADP-ME2 to rapidly increase cytosolic NADPH, hence fueling RBOHD to sustain ROS production in plant immunity.
Project description:The degree to which plants discriminate among elicitors in early transcriptional responses is unknown. To test this, we selected a panel of seven elicitors recognized by the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. Two-week old Arabidopsis seedlings in liquid culture were treated with each elicitor individually, and tissue flash-frozen at 0, 5, 10, 30, 90, and 180 min post-treatment. As a control, receptor mutants for each elicitor were treated and harvested in parallel with wt plants. The experiment was repeated four times. mRNA was extracted via pulldown of poly-A tail from bulk lysate, and libraries were prepared via tagmentation with custom Tn-5 adapter oligos. Libraries for each experiment were pooled, and sequenced across 2-3 flowcells of a NextSeq500 benchtop sequencer.
Project description:Plants can perceive the presence of pathogens at the cell surface and plant damage-derived molecules via recognition of conserved microbial molecules, named pathogen- or microbe-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) and damage associated molecular patterns (DAMPs). Well-studied examples of PAMPs are chito-oligomers, breakdown products of fungal cell walls and insect exoskeletons. Pectin-derived oligogalacturonides (OGs) are well-characterized DAMPs. Both PAMPs nd DAMPs are capable of activating plant immunity, generating changes in gene expression that lead to increased production of defense compounds and proteins; thus, equipping the plant cell to defend itself. We used microarrays to assess the gene expression changes that follow 25min after elicitor treatment.