A fungal effector promotes infection via stabilizing a negative regulatory factor of chloroplast immunity

Kunqin Xiao, Feng Yang, Wenjing Cui, Anmo Li, Jeffrey A. Rollins, Jinxin Guo, Xinhua Sun, Fengting Wang, Xiaojie Wang, Xun Xu, Yanhua Zhang, Xianghui Zhang, Jinliang Liu () and Hongyu Pan ()
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Kunqin Xiao: Jilin University
Feng Yang: Jilin University
Wenjing Cui: Jilin University
Anmo Li: Jilin University
Jeffrey A. Rollins: University of Florida
Jinxin Guo: Jilin University
Xinhua Sun: Southwest University
Fengting Wang: Jilin University
Xiaojie Wang: Northwest A&F University
Xun Xu: Jilin University
Yanhua Zhang: Jilin University
Xianghui Zhang: Jilin University
Jinliang Liu: Jilin University
Hongyu Pan: Jilin University

Nature Communications, 2025, vol. 16, issue 1, 1-19

Abstract: Abstract Chloroplasts are crucial players in immunity and photosynthesis. However, how chloroplasts arrange the transition between photosynthesis and immunity and how pathogens manipulate this transition remains elusive. Here we report an effector SsCm1 from Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, one of devastating phytopathogenic fungi, inhibits chloroplast immunity and resistance to pathogens, and alleviates photoinhibition in immune state. This is accomplished through stabilizing the conserved chloroplast protein MORF2, which is degraded during immunization and is a suppressor of photoinhibition, cell death, and chloroplast immunity. Overexpression of SsCm1 or MORF2 in plants represses basic immunity and resistance to pathogens, whereas deletion of SsCm1 reduces S. sclerotiorum virulence. Notably, SsCm1 possesses no chorismate mutase activity, which is different from the previously reported Cm effectors. This work reveals a strategy to fine-tune growth-defense balance in chloroplasts by manipulating MORF2, and a pathogenic strategy to subvert the process and promote infection via enzymatically nonfunctional effector stabilizing MORF2.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-62326-4

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