Unser 10. Leibniz Plant Biochemistry Symposium am 7. und 8. Mai war ein großer Erfolg. Thematisch ging es in diesem Jahr um neue Methoden und Forschungsansätze der Naturstoffchemie. Die exzellenten Vorträge über Wirkstoffe…
Omanische Heilpflanze im Fokus der Phytochemie IPB-Wissenschaftler und Partner aus Dhofar haben jüngst die omanische Heilpflanze Terminalia dhofarica unter die phytochemische Lupe genommen. Die Pflanze ist reich an…
Geschmack ist vorhersagbar: Mit FlavorMiner. FlavorMiner heißt das Tool, das IPB-Chemiker und Partner aus Kolumbien jüngst entwickelt haben. Das Programm kann, basierend auf maschinellem Lernen (KI), anhand der…
Fungal small RNAs (sRNAs) hijack the plant RNA silencing pathway to manipulate host gene expression, named cross-kingdom RNA interference (ckRNAi). It is currently unknown how conserved and significant ckRNAi is for microbial virulence. Here, we found for the first time that sRNAs of a pathogen representing the oomycete kingdom invade the host plant’s Argonaute (AGO)/RNA-induced silencing complex. To demonstrate the functionality of the plant-invading oomycete Hyaloperonospora arabidopsidis sRNAs (HpasRNAs), we designed a novel CRISPR endoribonuclease Csy4/GUS repressor reporter to visualize in situ pathogen-induced target suppression in Arabidopsis thaliana host plant. By using 5’ RACE-PCR we demonstrated HpasRNAs-directed cleavage of plant mRNAs. The significant role of HpasRNAs together with AtAGO1 in virulence was demonstrated by plant atago1 mutants and by transgenic Arabidopsis expressing a target mimic to block HpasRNAs, that both exhibited enhanced resistance. Individual HpasRNA plant targets contributed to host immunity, as Arabidopsis gene knockout or HpasRNA-resistant gene versions exhibited quantitative enhanced or reduced susceptibility, respectively. Together with previous reports, we found that ckRNAi is conserved among oomycete and fungal pathogens.
Preprints
Rajaraman, J.; Douchkov, D.; Lück, S.; Hensel, G.; Nowara, D.; Pogoda, M.; Rutten, T.; Meitzel, T.; Höfle, C.; Hückelhoven, R.; Klinkenberg, J.; Trujillo, M.; Bauer, E.; Schmutzer, T.; Himmelbach, A.; Mascher, M.; Lazzari, B.; Stein, N.; Kumlehn, J.; Schweizer, P.;The partial duplication of an E3-ligase gene in Triticeae species mediates resistance to powdery mildew fungibioRxiv(2017)DOI: 10.1101/190728
In plant-pathogen interactions, components of the plant ubiquitination machinery are preferred targets of pathogen-encoded effectors suppressing defense responses or co-opting host cellular functions for accommodation. Here, we employed transient and stable gene silencing-and over-expression systems in Hordeum vulgare (barley) to study the function of HvARM1 (for H. vulgare Armadillo 1), a partial gene duplicate of the U-box/armadillo-repeat E3 ligase HvPUB15 (for H. vulgare Plant U-Box 15). The partial ARM1 gene was derived from an ancient gene-duplication event in a common ancestor of the Triticeae tribe of grasses comprising the major crop species H. vulgare, Triticum aestivum and Secale cereale. The barley gene HvARM1 contributed to quantitative host as well as nonhost resistance to the biotrophic powdery mildew fungus Blumeria graminis, and allelic variants were found to be associated with powdery mildew-disease severity. Both HvPUB15 and HvARM1 proteins interacted in yeast and plant cells with the susceptibility-related, plastid-localized barley homologs of THF1 (for Thylakoid formation 1) and of ClpS1 (for Clp-protease adaptor S1) of Arabidopsis thaliana. The results suggest a neo-functionalization HvARM1 to increase resistance against powdery mildew and provide a link to plastid function in susceptibility to biotrophic pathogen attack.