The Botrytis cinerea Crh1 transglycosylase is a cytoplasmic effector triggering plant cell death and defense response

Kai Bi, Loredana Scalschi, Namrata Jaiswal, Tesfaye Mengiste, Renana Fried, Ana Belén Sanz, Javier Arroyo, Wenjun Zhu, Gal Masrati and Amir Sharon ()
Additional contact information
Kai Bi: Tel Aviv University
Loredana Scalschi: Tel Aviv University
Namrata Jaiswal: Purdue University
Tesfaye Mengiste: Purdue University
Renana Fried: Tel Aviv University
Ana Belén Sanz: Universidad Complutense, IRYCIS
Javier Arroyo: Universidad Complutense, IRYCIS
Wenjun Zhu: Wuhan Polytechnic University
Gal Masrati: Tel Aviv University
Amir Sharon: Tel Aviv University

Nature Communications, 2021, vol. 12, issue 1, 1-15

Abstract: Abstract Crh proteins catalyze crosslinking of chitin and glucan polymers in fungal cell walls. Here, we show that the BcCrh1 protein from the phytopathogenic fungus Botrytis cinerea acts as a cytoplasmic effector and elicitor of plant defense. BcCrh1 is localized in vacuoles and the endoplasmic reticulum during saprophytic growth. However, upon plant infection, the protein accumulates in infection cushions; it is then secreted to the apoplast and translocated into plant cells, where it induces cell death and defense responses. Two regions of 53 and 35 amino acids are sufficient for protein uptake and cell death induction, respectively. BcCrh1 mutant variants that are unable to dimerize lack transglycosylation activity, but are still able to induce plant cell death. Furthermore, Arabidopsis lines expressing the bccrh1 gene exhibit reduced sensitivity to B. cinerea, suggesting a potential use of the BcCrh1 protein in plant immunization against this necrotrophic pathogen.

Date: 2021
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-22436-1 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:12:y:2021:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-021-22436-1

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-22436-1

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().