Scientists discover new molecular mechanisms of plant immunosuppression and broad-spectrum disease resistance

Scientists discover new molecular mechanisms for plant immunosuppression and broad-spectrum disease resistance

Scientists discover new molecular mechanisms of plant immunosuppression and broad-spectrum disease resistance Scientists discover new molecular mechanisms of plant immunosuppression and broad-spectrum disease resistance

Researcher He Zuhua led students to investigate rice disease resistance in the field
.

Photo courtesy of the research group

Researcher He Zuhua led students to investigate rice disease resistance in the field

ROD1-mediated immune response model
.

Photo courtesy of the research group

ROD1-mediated immune response model

Therefore, in order to effectively control rice diseases and ensure high and stable grain yields in China, crop breeders and pathologists have long been committed to breeding broad-spectrum and durable rice disease-resistant varieties.

To solve these problems, China Ke Xueyuan Innovation Center of Molecular Plant Science Research Excellence He Zuhua team after 15 years of unremitting track, finally got an answer
.

To solve these problems, China Ke Xueyuan Innovation Center of Molecular Plant Science Research Excellence He Zuhua team after 15 years of unremitting track, finally got an answer
.

At 23:00 on September 30, He Zuhua's research team published a paper online in Cell
.

This is another major progress of the research team following the publication of a new mechanism for broad-spectrum disease resistance in rice in Science in 2017

Researchers have discovered that ROD1 acts as a new plant immunosuppressive center, which inhibits the defense response of plants by degrading immune-active superoxide molecules (ROS)
.

Therefore, when there is no pathogen infection, the basic immunity of the plant is maintained at a low level, which is conducive to the reproductive growth of rice, thereby increasing the yield

On the other hand, pathogenic bacteria and plants have been in the process of co-evolution of the "arms race" for a long time
.

Studies have found that the rice blast fungus will evolve a toxic protein that mimics the structure of ROD1, and it can embezzle the immunosuppressive pathway of ROD1 in plants to achieve the purpose of infection

"Previous researches focused on how calcium ion signals activate plant immunity, but this result reveals a new immunosuppressive pathway with calcium ion receptor ROD1 as the core, and the co-evolution mediated by plant and pathogenic bacteria using protein structure simulation.
The mechanism provides important new enlightenment for research in the field of plant immunity
.

"He Zuhua told the Chinese Journal of Science that this research shows for the first time that crops can choose immune strategies that are compatible with climate or cultivation conditions, so that plant disease resistance and growth and development are the environment.

In addition, the researchers also found that the function of ROD1 is conserved in cereal crops, and thus proposed a new strategy that can achieve broad-spectrum disease resistance by editing or manipulating these new susceptible genes, which is useful for cultivating high-yield and high-resistant crop varieties.
It has important guiding significance and application potential
.

Due to changes in planting systems and climate change, pathogens of various crops have spread across the country, causing huge losses to agricultural production and a serious threat to food security
.

This research not only broadens people’s understanding of the basic theory of crop disease resistance, but also provides new research and development ideas for the design of new disease resistance genes and the development of high-yield disease-resistant crop varieties.

Related paper information : https://doi.
org/10.
1016/j.
cell.
2021.
09.
009

: Https://doi.
org/10.
1016/j.
cell.
2021.
09.
009