title: Tomato I2 Immune Receptor Can Be Engineered to Confer Partial Resistance to the Oomycete Phytophthora infestans in Addition to the Fungus Fusarium oxysporum.
abstract: Plants and animals rely on immune receptors, known as nucleotide-binding domain and leucine-rich repeat (NLR)-containing proteins, to defend against invading pathogens and activate immune responses. How NLR receptors respond to pathogens is inadequately understood. We previously reported single-residue mutations that expand the response of the potato immune receptor R3a to AVR3a(EM), a stealthy effector from the late blight oomycete pathogen Phytophthora infestans. I2, another NLR that mediates resistance to the will-causing fungus Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici, is the tomato ortholog of R3a. We transferred previously identified R3a mutations to I2 to assess the degree to which the resulting I2 mutants have an altered response. We discovered that wild-type I2 protein responds weakly to AVR3a. One mutant in the N-terminal coiled-coil domain, I2(I141N), appeared sensitized and displayed markedly increased response to AVR3a. Remarkably, I2(I141N) conferred partial resistance to P. infestans. Further, I2(I141N) has an expanded response spectrum to F. oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici effectors compared with the wild-type I2 protein. Our results suggest that synthetic immune receptors can be engineered to confer resistance to phylogenetically divergent pathogens and indicate that knowledge gathered for one NLR could be exploited to improve NLR from other plant species.
authors.affiliation: 1 The Sainsbury Laboratory, Norwich Research Park, NR4 7UH Norwich, United Kingdom;
authors.forename: Artemis
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Giannakopoulou
authors.affiliation: 2 Department of Biological Chemistry, John Innes Centre, Norwich Research Park, Norwich, NR4 7UH, United Kingdom;
authors.forename: John F C
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Steele
authors.affiliation: 3 INGEBI-CONICET, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, C1428ADN, Argentina;
authors.forename: Maria Eugenia
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Segretin
authors.affiliation: 1 The Sainsbury Laboratory, Norwich Research Park, NR4 7UH Norwich, United Kingdom;|4 Imperial College, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Department of Life Sciences, South Kensington Campus, London SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom; and.
authors.forename: Tolga O
authors.initials: TO
authors.lastname: Bozkurt
authors.affiliation: 1 The Sainsbury Laboratory, Norwich Research Park, NR4 7UH Norwich, United Kingdom;|5 The Genome Analysis Centre, Norwich Research Park, NR4 7UH Norwich, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Ji
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: 1 The Sainsbury Laboratory, Norwich Research Park, NR4 7UH Norwich, United Kingdom;
authors.forename: Silke
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Robatzek
authors.affiliation: 2 Department of Biological Chemistry, John Innes Centre, Norwich Research Park, Norwich, NR4 7UH, United Kingdom;
authors.forename: Mark J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Banfield
authors.affiliation: 1 The Sainsbury Laboratory, Norwich Research Park, NR4 7UH Norwich, United Kingdom;
authors.forename: Marina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pais
authors.affiliation: 1 The Sainsbury Laboratory, Norwich Research Park, NR4 7UH Norwich, United Kingdom;
authors.forename: Sophien
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kamoun
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D005670:Fusarium / Q000276:immunology / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D018551:Solanum lycopersicum / Q000276:immunology* / Q000382:microbiology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D055750:Phytophthora infestans / Q000276:immunology / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D011971:Receptors, Immunologic / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D011971:Receptors, Immunologic