USES OF THE PSEUDOMONAS SYRINGAE EFFECTOR PROTEIN HopU1 RELATED TO ITS ABILITY TO ADP-RIBOSYLATE EUKARYOTIC RNA BINDING PROTEINS

• Main Authors: FU ZHENG QING, ELTHON THOMAS E, ALFANO JAMES R
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 31.01.2008
• Subjects: AGRICULTURE; ANIMAL HUSBANDRY; BEER; BIOCHEMISTRY; CHEMISTRY; COMPOSITIONS OR TEST PAPERS THEREFOR; CONDITION-RESPONSIVE CONTROL IN MICROBIOLOGICAL ORENZYMOLOGICAL PROCESSES; ENZYMOLOGY; FISHING; FORESTRY; HUMAN NECESSITIES; HUNTING; MEASURING OR TESTING PROCESSES INVOLVING ENZYMES, NUCLEICACIDS OR MICROORGANISMS; METALLURGY; MICROBIOLOGY; MUTATION OR GENETIC ENGINEERING; NEW PLANTS OR PROCESSES FOR OBTAINING THEM; PLANT REPRODUCTION BY TISSUE CULTURE TECHNIQUES; PROCESSES OF PREPARING SUCH COMPOSITIONS; SPIRITS; TRAPPING; VINEGAR; WINE

The bacterial plant pathogen Pseudomonas syringae injects effector proteins into host cells via a type III protein secretion system to cause disease. The invention relates to the discovery that the type III effector HopU1 is a mono-ADP-ribosyltransferase (ADP-RT) and suppresses plant innate immunity. The HopU1 substrates in Arabidopsis thaliana extracts were RNA-binding proteins that possess RNA-recognition motifs (RRMs). A. thaliana knock-out lines defective in the glycine-rich RNA-binding protein AtGRP7, a HopU1 substrate, were more susceptible than wild type plants to P. syringae. The ADP-ribosylation of AtGRP7 by HopU1 required two arginines within the RRM. The invention provides novel methods for the modulation of the innate immune response of a plant to a biotic stress, including methods for enhancing or suppressing the innate immune response of the plant.