Proteomic investigation of a tomato receptor like protein recognizing fungal pathogens
Authors: Avni Adi , Coaker Gitta L. 
Published: January 2022

Maximizing food production with minimal negative effects on the environment remains a long-term challenge for sustainable food production. Microbial pathogens cause devastating diseases, minimizing crop losses by controlling plant diseases can contribute significantly to this goal. All plants possess an innate immune system that is activated after recognition of microbial-derived molecules. The fungal protein Eix induces defense responses in tomato and tobacco. Plants recognize Eix through a leucine-rich-repeat receptor- like-protein (LRR-RLP) termed LeEix. Despite the knowledge obtained from studies on tomato, relatively little is known about signaling initiated by RLP-type immune receptors. The focus of this grant proposal is to generate a foundational understanding of how the tomato xylanase receptor LeEix2 signals to confer defense responses. LeEix2 recognition results in pattern triggered immunity (PTI). The grant has two main aims: (1) Isolate the LeEix2 protein complex in an active and resting state; (2) Examine the biological function of the identified proteins in relation to LeEix2 signaling upon perception of the xylanase elicitor Eix. We used two separate approaches to isolate receptor interacting proteins. Transgenic tomato plants expressing LeEix2 fused to the GFP tag were used to identify complex components at a resting and activated state. LeEix2 complexes were purified by mass spectrometry and associated proteins identified by mass spectrometry. We identified novel proteins that interact with LeEix receptor by proteomics analysis. We identified two dynamin related proteins (DRPs), a coiled coil – nucleotide binding site leucine rich repeat (SlNRC4a) protein. In the second approach we used the split ubiquitin yeast two hybrid (Y2H) screen system to identified receptor-like protein kinase At5g24010-like (SlRLK-like) (Solyc01g094920.2.1) as an interactor of LeEIX2. We examined the role of SlNRC4a in plant immunity. Co-immunoprecipitation demonstrates that SlNRC4a is able to associate with different PRRs. Physiological assays with specific elicitors revealed that SlNRC4a generally alters PRR-mediated responses. SlNRC4a overexpression enhances defense responses while silencing SlNRC4 reduces plant immunity. We propose that SlNRC4a acts as a non-canonical positive regulator of immunity mediated by diverse PRRs. Thus, SlNRC4a could link both intracellular and extracellular immune perception. SlDRP2A localizes at the plasma membrane. Overexpression of SlDRP2A increases the sub-population of LeEIX2 inVHAa1 endosomes, and enhances LeEIX2- and FLS2-mediated defense. The effect of SlDRP2A on induction of plant immunity highlights the importance of endomembrane components and endocytosis in signal propagation during plant immune . The interaction of LeEIX2 with SlRLK-like was verified using co- immunoprecipitation and a bimolecular fluorescence complementation assay. The defence responses induced by EIX were markedly reduced when SlRLK-like was over-expressed, and mutation of slrlk-likeusing CRISPR/Cas9 increased EIX- induced ethylene production and SlACSgene expression in tomato. Co-expression of SlRLK-like with different RLPs and RLKs led to their degradation, apparently through an endoplasmic reticulum-associated degradation process. We provided new knowledge and expertise relevant to expression of specific be exploited to enhance immunity in crops enabling the development of novel environmentally friendly disease control strategies.