SUMMARY
The bacterial pathogen Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato DC3000 suppresses the two-tiered plant innate immune system by injecting a complex repertoire of type III secretion effector (T3E) proteins. Beyond redundancy and interplay, individual T3Es may interact with multiple immunity-associated proteins, rendering their analysis challenging. We constructed a Pst DC3000 polymutant lacking all 36 T3Es and restored individual T3Es or their mutants to explore the interplay among T3Es. The weakly expressed T3E HopAD1 was sufficient to elicit immunity-associated cell death in Nicotiana benthamiana. HopAD1-induced cell death was suppressed partially by native AvrPtoB and completely by AvrPtoBM3, which has mutations disrupting its E3 ubiquitin ligase domain and two known domains for interacting with immunity-associated kinases. AvrPtoBM3 also gained the ability to interact with the immunity-kinase MKK2, which is required for HopAD1-dependent cell death. Thus, AvrPtoB has alternative, competing mechanisms for suppressing effector-triggered plant immunity. This approach allows the deconvolution of individual T3E activities.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.