Cleavage of Bcl-2-associated athanogene by metacaspase determines plant antiviral immunity

Lin Liang, Yuhang Jiang, Pingzhi Zhao, Hongwei Wang, Xiaoyue Chen, Xiao Lin, Yanwei Sun, Wenqian Zhang, Rongxiang Fang and Jian Ye ()
Additional contact information
Lin Liang: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Yuhang Jiang: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Pingzhi Zhao: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Hongwei Wang: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Xiaoyue Chen: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Xiao Lin: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Yanwei Sun: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Wenqian Zhang: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Rongxiang Fang: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Jian Ye: Chinese Academy of Sciences

Nature Communications, 2025, vol. 16, issue 1, 1-13

Abstract: Abstract Nucleotide-binding leucine-rich repeat receptors (NLRs) function as core components of innate immunity in both plants and animals. In animals, NLR activation initiates caspase-mediated immune signaling. In contrast, plants lack caspases but instead contain metacaspases (MCAs/MCs), yet their role in antiviral immunity and whether they interface with NLR signaling remain largely unexplored. Here, we demonstrate that cleavage of the conserved immune regulator Bcl-2-associated athanogene 3 (BAG3) by metacaspase 4 (MCAIIa/MC4) induces cell death and activates antiviral immunity in plants. Upon Begomovirus infection, MC4 cleaves BAG3 to release its N-terminal functional domain (BAG3-N) from autoinhibition. BAG3-N assembles into oligomers and induces cell death, effectively inhibiting viral replication. This signaling also interfaces with NLR networks in certain plant species. Viral replication-associated proteins (Reps) counteract this defense response by binding to BAG3-N, highlighting an evolutionary arms race between plants and viruses. Evolutionary analyses reveal that a lysine substitution at position 50 of BAG3 confers its ability to induce cell death in angiosperms. These findings identify BAG3 as a conserved immune regulator linking metacaspase activation to antiviral defense, providing a mechanistic basis for engineering crops with enhanced resistance to insect-borne viruses.

Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-64021-w 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:16:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-025-64021-w

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

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-64021-w

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 ().