title: Using decoys to expand the recognition specificity of a plant disease resistance protein.
abstract: Maintaining high crop yields in an environmentally sustainable manner requires the development of disease-resistant crop varieties. We describe a method to engineer disease resistance in plants by means of an endogenous disease resistance gene from Arabidopsis thaliana named RPS5, which encodes a nucleotide-binding leucine-rich repeat (NLR) protein. RPS5 is normally activated when a second host protein, PBS1, is cleaved by the pathogen-secreted protease AvrPphB. We show that the AvrPphB cleavage site within PBS1 can be substituted with cleavage sites for other pathogen proteases, which then enables RPS5 to be activated by these proteases, thereby conferring resistance to new pathogens. This "decoy" approach may be applicable to other NLR proteins and should enable engineering of resistance in plants to diseases for which we currently lack robust genetic resistance.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA.
authors.forename: Sang Hee
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA.
authors.forename: Dong
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Qi
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA.
authors.forename: Tom
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ashfield
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA.
authors.forename: Matthew
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Helm
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA. rinnes@indiana.edu.
authors.forename: Roger W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Innes
mesh_terms: D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000382:microbiology; D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D060467:Disease Resistance / Q000235:genetics*; D005818:Genetic Engineering / Q000379:methods; D010447:Peptide Hydrolases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D010935:Plant Diseases / Q000235:genetics / Q000382:microbiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000382:microbiology; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D059748:Proteolysis; D044224:Pseudomonas syringae / Q000378:metabolism / Q000472:pathogenicity; D019076:Transgenes
chemical_list: D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins; D001426:Bacterial Proteins; C095014:RPM1 protein, Arabidopsis; C465630:RPS5 protein, Arabidopsis; C405209:RPT2 protein, Arabidopsis; C500179:avrPphB protein, Pseudomonas syringae; C477340:PBS1 protein, Arabidopsis; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases; D010447:Peptide Hydrolases