Credit: SciTechDaily.comRIKEN researchers have actually mapped the development of plant resistance, revealing a path to engineer crops with boosted illness resistance.Plants are constantly progressing new immune receptors to ever-changing pathogens. The capability of these receptors to find molecular patterns associated with pathogens depends on 2 types of proteins, called RLPs and RLKs, both of which can include leucine-rich repeats– sections in which the amino acid leucine appears numerous times.Tracing Immunitys EvolutionTo trace the development of plant immunity, the global research study group led by Ken Shirasu and Yasuhiro Kadota at RIKEN CSRS examined the numbers and patterns of receptors. Producing a hybrid receptor by combining a growth-related RLK with an immunity-related RLP resulted in a hybrid receptor that caused and recognized pathogens both growth-related and immune reactions. “We are currently separating immune receptors from different plants using this information, aiming for practical applications such as developing disease-resistant crops in the future,” says Shirasu.Reference: “Evolutionary Trajectory of Pattern Recognition Receptors in Plants” 1 February 2024, Nature Communications.DOI: 10.1038/ s41467-023-44408-3.
The capability of these receptors to find molecular patterns associated with pathogens depends on 2 types of proteins, called RLKs and rlps, both of which can include leucine-rich repeats– sections in which the amino acid leucine appears several times.Tracing Immunitys EvolutionTo trace the evolution of plant immunity, the international research group led by Ken Shirasu and Yasuhiro Kadota at RIKEN CSRS examined the numbers and patterns of receptors. Developing a hybrid receptor by integrating a growth-related RLK with an immunity-related RLP resulted in a hybrid receptor that induced and recognized pathogens both immune and growth-related reactions. “We are currently separating immune receptors from numerous plants using this information, intending for useful applications such as developing disease-resistant crops in the future,” says Shirasu.Reference: “Evolutionary Trajectory of Pattern Recognition Receptors in Plants” 1 February 2024, Nature Communications.DOI: 10.1038/ s41467-023-44408-3.