The unique α-(1→7)-bradyrhizoside linkages are constructed for the first time via judicious choice of the glycosylation partners and conditions, thus tetra- and penta-bradyrhizosides relevant to the peculiar O-antigen of Bradyrhizobium are synthesized, which are shown to adopt the defined right-handed helical conformations and to be unable to induce innate immune responses in plants.

The unique α‐(1→7)‐bradyrhizoside linkages are constructed for the first time via judicious choice of the glycosylation partners and conditions, thus tetra‐ and penta‐bradyrhizosides relevant to the peculiar O‐antigen of Bradyrhizobium are synthesized, which are shown to adopt the defined right‐handed helical conformations and to be unable to induce innate immune responses in plants.

The synthesis of bradyrhizose, the monosaccharide component of the lipopolysaccharide O-antigen of the nitrogen-fixing bacteria Bradyrhizobium sp. BTAi1 and sp. ORS278, has been achieved in 25 steps in an overall yield of 6% using myo-inositol and ethyl propiolate as the starting materials. The route involved the late-stage resolution of a racemic intermediate to provide both enantiomers of this unusual bicyclic monosaccharide. Both the natural Denantiomer, and the unnatural and heretofore unknown L-enantiomer, were converted to disaccharide derivatives containing different forms of the monosaccharide (D,D; L,L; D,L; L,D). Evaluation of the synthetic compounds for their ability to act as microbe-associated molecular patterns in plants, through induction of reactive oxygen species, was investigated. These experiments suggest that the immunologically silent nature of the natural glycans is due to specific structural features.

PSY1R is a leucine-rich repeat (LRR) receptor-like kinase (RLK) previously shown to act as receptor for the plant peptide hormone PSY1 (peptide containing sulfated tyrosine 1) and to regulate cell expansion. PSY1R phosphorylates and thereby regulates the activity of plasma membrane-localized H+-ATPases. While this mechanism has been studied in detail, little is known about how PSY1R itself is activated. Here we studied the activation mechanism of PSY1R. We show that full-length PSY1R interacts with members of the SERK co-receptor family in planta. We identified seven in vitro autophosphorylation sites on serine and threonine residues within the kinase domain of PSY1R using mass spectrometry. We furthermore show that PSY1R autophosphorylation occurs in trans and that the initial transphosphorylation takes place within the activation loop at residues Ser951, Thr959, and Thr963. While Thr959 and Thr963 are conserved among other related plant LRR RLKs, Ser951 is unique to PSY1R. Based on homology modeling we propose that phosphorylation of Ser951 stabilize the inactive conformation of PSY1R.

Xanthomonas citri pv. citri is the pathogen responsible for Asiatic citrus canker, one of the most serious citrus diseases worldwide. The lipopolysaccharide (LPS) molecule has been demonstrated to be involved in X. citri pv. citri virulence. Despite enormous progress in investigations of the molecular mechanisms for bacterial pathogenicity, determination of the detailed LPS structure-activity relationship is limited, as the current knowledge is mainly based on structural determination of one X. citri pv. citri strain. As X. citri pv. citri strains are distinguished into three main pathogenicity groups, we characterized the full structure of the LPS from two pathotypes that differ in their host-range specificity. This revealed an intriguing difference in LPS O-chain structure. We also tested the LPSs and isolated lipid A moieties for their ability to act as microbe-associated molecular patterns in Arabidopsis thaliana. Both LPS/lipid As induced ROS accumulation, but no difference was observed between the two pathotypes.