The Essential Effector SCRE1 in Ustilaginoidea Virens Suppresses Rice Immunity Via a Small Peptide Region

Overview

Journal Mol Plant Pathol

Specialty Molecular Biology

Date 2020 Feb 23

PMID 32087618

Citations 32

Authors

Nan Zhang

Jiyun Yang

Anfei Fang

Jiyang Wang

Dayong Li

Yuejiao Li

Shanzhi Wang

Fuhao Cui

Junjie Yu

Yongfeng Liu

You-Liang Peng

Wenxian Sun

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

The biotrophic fungal pathogen Ustilaginoidea virens causes rice false smut, a newly emerging plant disease that has become epidemic worldwide in recent years. The U. virens genome encodes many putative effector proteins that, based on the study of other pathosystems, could play an essential role in fungal virulence. However, few studies have been reported on virulence functions of individual U. virens effectors. Here, we report our identification and characterization of the secreted cysteine-rich protein SCRE1, which is an essential virulence effector in U. virens. When SCRE1 was heterologously expressed in Magnaporthe oryzae, the protein was secreted and translocated into plant cells during infection. SCRE1 suppresses the immunity-associated hypersensitive response in the nonhost plant Nicotiana benthamiana. Induced expression of SCRE1 in rice also inhibits pattern-triggered immunity and enhances disease susceptibility to rice bacterial and fungal pathogens. The immunosuppressive activity is localized to a small peptide region that contains an important 'cysteine-proline-alanine-arginine-serine' motif. Furthermore, the scre1 knockout mutant generated using the CRISPR/Cas9 system is attenuated in U. virens virulence to rice, which is greatly complemented by the full-length SCRE1 gene. Collectively, this study indicates that the effector SCRE1 is able to inhibit host immunity and is required for full virulence of U. virens.

Citing Articles

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