Yoshitake Desaki

CERK1, a LysM receptor kinase, is essential for chitin elicitor signaling in Arabidopsis

Chitin is a major component of fungal cell walls and serves as a microbe-associated molecular pattern (MAMP) for the detection of various potential pathogens in innate immune systems of both plants and animals. We recently showed that chitin elicitor-binding protein (CEBiP), plasma membrane glycoprotein with LysM motifs, functions as a cell surface receptor for chitin elicitor in rice. The predicted structure of CEBiP does not contain any intracellular domains, suggesting that an additional component(s) is required for signaling through the plasma membrane into the cytoplasm. Here, we identified a receptor-like kinase, designated CERK1, which is essential for chitin elicitor signaling in Arabidopsis. The KO mutants for CERK1 completely lost the ability to respond to the chitin elicitor, including MAPK activation, reactive oxygen species generation, and gene expression. Disease resistance of the KO mutant against an incompatible fungus, Alternaria brassicicola, was partly impaired. Complementation with the WT CERK1 gene showed cerk1 mutations were responsible for the mutant phenotypes. CERK1 is a plasma membrane protein containing three LysM motifs in the extracellular domain and an intracellular Ser/Thr kinase domain with autophosphorylation/myelin basic protein kinase activity, suggesting that CERK1 plays a critical role in fungal MAMP perception in plants.

Conserved Fungal LysM Effector Ecp6 Prevents Chitin-Triggered Immunity in Plants

Fungal Defenses One of the major driving forces of evolution is the constant arms race between plants and animals and the microbial pathogens that infect them. The fungus Cladosporium fulvum causes leaf mold on tomato plants. One of the ways tomato plants sense infections by C. fulvum is by detecting chitin, a component of fungal cell walls. In response, the fungus has evolved strategies to evade detection. De Jonge et al. (p. 953) have now identified one such mechanism in C. fulvum, mediated by the effector protein Ecp6. Secreted Ecp6 is able to bind to chitin oligosaccharides that are released upon degradation of the fungal cell wall and sequester them so that they are not detected by tomato chitin receptors. Proteins with domain structure similar to Ecp6 are conserved throughout the fungal kingdom, which suggests that chitin sequestration may represent a general mechanism used by fungi to evade immune detection. A fungal protein binds to a host cell wall component to allow the fungus to escape immune responses. Multicellular organisms activate immunity upon recognition of pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs). Chitin is the major component of fungal cell walls, and chitin oligosaccharides act as PAMPs in plant and mammalian cells. Microbial pathogens deliver effector proteins to suppress PAMP-triggered host immunity and to establish infection. Here, we show that the LysM domain–containing effector protein Ecp6 of the fungal plant pathogen Cladosporium fulvum mediates virulence through perturbation of chitin-triggered host immunity. During infection, Ecp6 sequesters chitin oligosaccharides that are released from the cell walls of invading hyphae to prevent elicitation of host immunity. This may represent a common strategy of host immune suppression by fungal pathogens, because LysM effectors are widely conserved in the fungal kingdom.

Two LysM receptor molecules, CEBiP and OsCERK1, cooperatively regulate chitin elicitor signaling in rice

Chitin is a major molecular pattern for various fungi, and its fragments, chitin oligosaccharides, are known to induce various defense responses in plant cells. A plasma membrane glycoprotein, CEBiP (chitin elicitor binding protein) and a receptor kinase, CERK1 (chitin elicitor receptor kinase) (also known as LysM-RLK1), were identified as critical components for chitin signaling in rice and Arabidopsis, respectively. However, it is not known whether each plant species requires both of these two types of molecules for chitin signaling, nor the relationships between these molecules in membrane signaling. We report here that rice cells require a LysM receptor-like kinase, OsCERK1, in addition to CEBiP, for chitin signaling. Knockdown of OsCERK1 resulted in marked suppression of the defense responses induced by chitin oligosaccharides, indicating that OsCERK1 is essential for chitin signaling in rice. The results of a yeast two-hybrid assay indicated that both CEBiP and OsCERK1 have the potential to form hetero- or homo-oligomers. Immunoprecipitation using a membrane preparation from rice cells treated with chitin oligosaccharides suggested the ligand-induced formation of a receptor complex containing both CEBiP and OsCERK1. Blue native PAGE and chemical cross-linking experiments also suggested that a major portion of CEBiP exists as homo-oligomers even in the absence of chitin oligosaccharides.

Chitin-induced activation of immune signaling by the rice receptor CEBiP relies on a unique sandwich-type dimerization

Significance Chitin perception by plant receptors triggers various defense responses important for plant immunity. We show the molecular basis of chitin recognition by the rice receptor, CEBiP (chitin-elicitor binding protein), and following receptor dimerization based on the results of biochemical studies, epitope mapping by saturation transfer difference NMR spectroscopy and molecular modeling/docking studies. These results clearly indicated that two CEBiP molecules simultaneously bind to one N-acetylchitoheptaose/octaose from the opposite side, through a binding site in the central lysin motif region, resulting in the dimerization of CEBiP. Based on these observations, we proposed a hypothetical model for the ligand-induced activation of a receptor complex, involving CEBiP and Oryza sativa chitin-elicitor receptor kinase 1 (OsCERK1). Perception of microbe-associated molecular patterns (MAMPs) through pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) triggers various defense responses in plants. This MAMP-triggered immunity plays a major role in the plant resistance against various pathogens. To clarify the molecular basis of the specific recognition of chitin oligosaccharides by the rice PRR, CEBiP (chitin-elicitor binding protein), as well as the formation and activation of the receptor complex, biochemical, NMR spectroscopic, and computational studies were performed. Deletion and domain-swapping experiments showed that the central lysine motif in the ectodomain of CEBiP is essential for the binding of chitin oligosaccharides. Epitope mapping by NMR spectroscopy indicated the preferential binding of longer-chain chitin oligosaccharides, such as heptamer-octamer, to CEBiP, and also the importance of N-acetyl groups for the binding. Molecular modeling/docking studies clarified the molecular interaction between CEBiP and chitin oligosaccharides and indicated the importance of Ile122 in the central lysine motif region for ligand binding, a notion supported by site-directed mutagenesis. Based on these results, it was indicated that two CEBiP molecules simultaneously bind to one chitin oligosaccharide from the opposite side, resulting in the dimerization of CEBiP. The model was further supported by the observations that the addition of (GlcNAc)8 induced dimerization of the ectodomain of CEBiP in vitro, and the dimerization and (GlcNAc)8-induced reactive oxygen generation were also inhibited by a unique oligosaccharide, (GlcNβ1,4GlcNAc)4, which is supposed to have N-acetyl groups only on one side of the molecule. Based on these observations, we proposed a hypothetical model for the ligand-induced activation of a receptor complex, involving both CEBiP and Oryza sativa chitin-elicitor receptor kinase-1.

Targeted Gene Disruption of OsCERK1 Reveals Its Indispensable Role in Chitin Perception and Involvement in the Peptidoglycan Response and Immunity in Rice

OsCERK1 is a rice receptor-like kinase that mediates the signal of a fungal cell wall component, chitin, by coordinating with a lysin motif (LysM)-containing protein CEBiP. To further elucidate the function of OsCERK1 in the defense response, we disrupted OsCERK1 using an Agrobacterium-mediated gene targeting system based on homologous recombination. In OsCERK1-disrupted lines, the generation of hydrogen peroxide and the alteration of gene expression in response to a chitin oligomer were completely abolished. The OsCERK1-disrupted lines also showed lowered responsiveness to a bacterial cell wall component, peptidoglycan. Yeast two-hybrid analysis indicated that OsCERK1 interacts with the LysM-containing proteins LYP4 and LYP6, which are known to participate in the peptidoglycan response in rice. Observation of the infection behavior of rice blast fungus (Magnaporthe oryzae) revealed that disruption of OsCERK1 led to increased hyphal growth in leaf sheath cells. Green fluorescent protein-tagged OsCERK1 was localized around the primary infection hyphae. These results demonstrate that OsCERK1 is indispensable for chitin perception and participates in innate immunity in rice, and also mediates the peptidoglycan response. It is also suggested that OsCERK1 mediates the signaling pathways of both fungal and bacterial molecular patterns by interacting with different LysM-containing receptor-like proteins.

Characterization of Receptor Proteins using Affinity Cross-linking with Biotinylated Ligands

The plant genome encodes a wide range of receptor-like proteins but the function of most of these proteins is unknown. We propose the use of affinity cross-linking of biotinylated ligands for a ligand-based survey of the corresponding receptor molecules. Biotinylated ligands not only enable the analysis of receptor-ligand interactions without the use of radioactive compounds but also the isolation and identification of receptor molecules by a simple affinity trapping method. We successfully applied this method for the characterization, isolation and identification of the chitin elicitor binding protein (CEBiP). A biocytin hydrazide conjugate of N-acetylchitooctaose (GN8-Bio) was synthesized and used for the detection of CEBiP in the plasma or microsomal membrane preparations from rice and carrot cells. Binding characteristics of CEBiP analyzed by inhibition studies were in good agreement with the previous results obtained with the use of a radiolabeled ligand. The biotin-tagged CEBiP could be purified by avidin affinity chromatography and identified by LC-MALDI-MS/MS after tryptic digestion. We also used this method to detect OsFLS2, a rice receptor-like kinase for the perception of the peptide elicitor flg22, in membrane preparations from rice cells overexpressing OsFLS2. This work demonstrates the applicability of this method to the purification and identification of plant receptor proteins.

Positive crosstalk of MAMP signaling pathways in rice cells.

Plants have evolved efficient defense mechanisms known as priming and synergy, both of which can mobilize defense responses more extensively against successive pathogen invasion or simultaneous stimulation by different signal molecules. However, the mechanisms underlying these phenomena were largely unknown. In the present study, we used cultured rice cells and combination of purified MAMP molecules as a model system to study the mechanisms of these phenomena. We found that the pretreatment of rice cells with a low concentration of bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) apparently primed the defense responses induced by successive N-acetylchitooctaose (GN8) treatment. On the other hand, simultaneous treatment with GN8 and LPS also resulted in the similar enhancement of defense responses observed for the LPS-induced priming, indicating that the synergistic effects of these MAMPs are basically responsible for such enhancement of defense responses, though the effect could be interpreted as “priming” under some experimental conditions. These results also indicate that such a positive crosstalk of signaling cascade downstream of MAMP receptors seems to occur very rapidly, probably at early step(s) of signaling pathway. Comprehensive analysis of phytohormones revealed a specific enhancement of the synthesis of jasmonic acid (JA), both in the LPS pretreatment and also simultaneous treatment, indicating a role of JA in the enhancement of downstream responses.

Modulation of plant defense responses to herbivores by simultaneous recognition of different herbivore-associated elicitors in rice.

Induced plant defense responses against insect herbivores are triggered by wounding and/or perception of herbivore elicitors from their oral secretions (OS) and/or saliva. In this study, we analyzed OS isolated from two rice chewing herbivores, Mythimna loreyi and Parnara guttata. Both types of crude OS had substantial elicitor activity in rice cell system that allowed rapid detection of early and late defense responses, i.e. accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and defense secondary metabolites, respectively. While the OS from M. loreyi contained large amounts of previously reported insect elicitors, fatty acid-amino acid conjugates (FACs), the elicitor-active P. guttata’s OS contained no detectable FACs. Subsequently, elicitor activity associated with the high molecular mass fraction in OS of both herbivores was identified, and shown to promote ROS and metabolite accumulations in rice cells. Notably, the application of N-linolenoyl-Gln (FAC) alone had only negligible elicitor activity in rice cells; however, the activity of isolated elicitor fraction was substantially promoted by this FAC. Our results reveal that plants integrate various independent signals associated with their insect attackers to modulate their defense responses and reach maximal fitness in nature.

The structure of the lipooligosaccharide from Xanthomonas oryzae pv. Oryzae: the causal agent of the bacterial leaf blight in rice

The structure of the lipooligosaccharide (LOS) from the rice pathogen Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae has been elucidated. The characterization of the core oligosaccharide structure was obtained by the employment of two chemical degradation protocols and by analysis of the products via NMR spectroscopy. The structure of the lipid A portion was achieved by MALDI mass spectrometry analysis on purified lipid A. The LOS from Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae revealed to possess the same core structure of Xanthomonas campestris pv. campestris and interesting novel features on its lipid A domain. The evaluation of the biological activity of both LOS and isolated lipid A was also executed.

Uptake of chitosan-derived D-glucosamine oligosaccharides in Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2).

The csnR gene, localized at the beginning of an operon, csnR-K, which organization is conserved through many actinomycete genomes, was previously shown to repress the transcription of the chitosanase gene csnA in Streptomyces lividans. However, knowledge on the function of the whole csnR-K operon in the metabolism of chitosan (an N-deacetylated derivative of chitin) remained limited. Mutants of S. coelicolor A3(2) harboring partial or total deletions of the csnR-K operon were analyzed for their capacity to uptake glucosamine oligosaccharides (GlcN)n. The csnR-K operon was autoregulated by CsnR repressor and its transcription was inducible by GlcN oligosaccharides. The operon controlled the uptake of GlcN oligosaccharides in S. coelicolor A3(2), with a minor contribution to the consumption of monomeric GlcN but not chitin-related N-acetylated derivatives. The deletion of the whole operon abolished the uptake of GlcN oligosaccharides. The CsnEFG transporter encoded by this operon is the front door for the assimilation of chitosan-derived hydrolysis products in S. coelicolor A3(2). The ATP-binding component MsiK was essential for CsnEFG transport function. Also, deletion of msiK abolished the induction of csnA transcription by GlcN oligosaccharides.