Abstract
Plants have the ability to detect invading pathogens through the perception of microbe-associated molecular patterns (MAMPs). Nevertheless, some pathogens are able to inhibit the MAMPs perception/signaling as a part of their pathogenic strategy. It is becoming evident that several pathogenic fungi such as Cladosporium fulvum and Magnaporthe grisea secrete LysM effectors that structurally resemble the extracellular part of plant chitin receptors, CEBiP and CERK1, and inhibit chitin perception by these receptors [1].
We observed that these LysM effectors can bind chitin oligosaccharides with high affinity by BIACORE analysis. We also found that these molecules inhibit the detection of chitin oligosaccharides by plant receptors by competing for the binding of ligand in affinity labeling experiments. Finally, we found that the addition of LysM effectors to rice cells inhibited the chitin induced of defense responses. These observations suggest that competition for the detection of chitin oligosaccharides between plant receptors and fungal effectors is an important strategy in the battle between plants and pathogens.
[1]de Jonge et al., Science, 329, 953 (2010).
