The tomato receptor CuRe1 senses a cell wall protein to identify Cuscuta as a pathogen

Volker Hegenauer, Peter Slaby, Max Körner, Julien-Alexander Bruckmüller, Ronja Burggraf, Isabell Albert, Bettina Kaiser, Birgit Löffelhardt, Irina Droste-Borel, Jan Sklenar, Frank L. H. Menke, Boris Maček, Aashish Ranjan, Neelima Sinha, Thorsten Nürnberger, Georg Felix, Kirsten Krause, Mark Stahl and Markus Albert ()
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Volker Hegenauer: Molecular Plant Physiology
Peter Slaby: Molecular Plant Physiology
Max Körner: Molecular Plant Physiology
Julien-Alexander Bruckmüller: Department of Arctic and Marine Biology
Ronja Burggraf: Center for Plant Molecular Biology
Isabell Albert: Molecular Plant Physiology
Bettina Kaiser: Center for Plant Molecular Biology
Birgit Löffelhardt: Center for Plant Molecular Biology
Irina Droste-Borel: Quantitative Proteomics & Proteome Center Tübingen
Jan Sklenar: University of East Anglia
Frank L. H. Menke: University of East Anglia
Boris Maček: Quantitative Proteomics & Proteome Center Tübingen
Aashish Ranjan: College of Biological Sciences, UC Davis
Neelima Sinha: College of Biological Sciences, UC Davis
Thorsten Nürnberger: Center for Plant Molecular Biology
Georg Felix: Center for Plant Molecular Biology
Kirsten Krause: Department of Arctic and Marine Biology
Mark Stahl: Center for Plant Molecular Biology
Markus Albert: Molecular Plant Physiology

Nature Communications, 2020, vol. 11, issue 1, 1-7

Abstract: Abstract Parasitic plants of the genus Cuscuta penetrate shoots of host plants with haustoria and build a connection to the host vasculature to exhaust water, solutes and carbohydrates. Such infections usually stay unrecognized by the host and lead to harmful host plant damage. Here, we show a molecular mechanism of how plants can sense parasitic Cuscuta. We isolated an 11 kDa protein of the parasite cell wall and identified it as a glycine-rich protein (GRP). This GRP, as well as its minimal peptide epitope Crip21, serve as a pathogen-associated molecular pattern and specifically bind and activate a membrane-bound immune receptor of tomato, the Cuscuta Receptor 1 (CuRe1), leading to defense responses in resistant hosts. These findings provide the initial steps to understand the resistance mechanisms against parasitic plants and further offer great potential for protecting crops by engineering resistance against parasitic plants.

Date: 2020
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-19147-4

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