A lectin S-domain receptor kinase mediates lipopolysaccharide sensing in Arabidopsis thaliana

• Published in: Nature immunology Vol. 16; no. 4; pp. 426 - 433
• Main Authors: Ranf, Stefanie, Gisch, Nicolas, Schäffer, Milena, Illig, Tina, Westphal, Lore, Knirel, Yuriy A, Sánchez-Carballo, Patricia M, Zähringer, Ulrich, Hückelhoven, Ralph, Lee, Justin, Scheel, Dierk
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Nature Publishing Group US 01.04.2015; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 631/250/262/2106; Arabidopsis - drug effects; Arabidopsis - genetics; Arabidopsis - immunology; Arabidopsis - microbiology; Arabidopsis Proteins - genetics; Arabidopsis Proteins - immunology; Arabidopsis thaliana; Bacteria; Bacterial infections; Biomedicine; Chemical degradation; Development and progression; Gene Expression Regulation, Plant - immunology; Genetic aspects; Immune response; Immunology; Infectious Diseases; Lipopolysaccharides; Lipopolysaccharides - pharmacology; Nicotiana - drug effects; Nicotiana - genetics; Nicotiana - immunology; Nicotiana - microbiology; Physiological aspects; Plant Immunity - genetics; Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases - genetics; Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases - immunology; Pseudomonas syringae; Pseudomonas syringae - chemistry; Pseudomonas syringae - immunology; Signal Transduction; Toll-like receptors; Transgenes; Xanthomonas; Xanthomonas campestris - chemistry; Xanthomonas campestris - immunology; Russia
• ISSN: 1529-2908; 1529-2916
• DOI: 10.1038/ni.3124

Plants have a vast array of pattern-recognition receptor to detect microbial ligands, but how they sense lipopolysaccharide has remained unknown. Ranf et al. identify the receptor-like kinase SD1-29 as a de facto pattern-recognition receptor for lipopolysaccharide in Arabidopsis . The sensing of microbe-associated molecular patterns (MAMPs) triggers innate immunity in animals and plants. Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) from Gram-negative bacteria is a potent MAMP for mammals, with the lipid A moiety activating proinflammatory responses via Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4). Here we found that the plant Arabidopsis thaliana specifically sensed LPS of Pseudomonas and Xanthomonas . We isolated LPS-insensitive mutants defective in the bulb-type lectin S-domain-1 receptor–like kinase LORE (SD1-29), which were hypersusceptible to infection with Pseudomonas syringae . Targeted chemical degradation of LPS from Pseudomonas species suggested that LORE detected mainly the lipid A moiety of LPS. LORE conferred sensitivity to LPS onto tobacco after transient expression, which demonstrated a key function in LPS sensing and indicated the possibility of engineering resistance to bacteria in crop species.