Plants and animals detect the presence of potential pathogens through the perception of conserved microbial patterns by cell surface receptors. Certain solanaceous plants, including tomato, potato and pepper, detect flgII-28, a region of bacterial flagellin that is distinct from that perceived by the well-characterized FLAGELLIN-SENSING 2 receptor. Here we identify and characterize the receptor responsible for this recognition in tomato, called FLAGELLIN-SENSING 3. This receptor binds flgII-28 and enhances immune responses leading to a reduction in bacterial colonization of leaf tissues. Further characterization of FLS3 and its signalling pathway could provide new insights into the plant immune system and transfer of the receptor to other crop plants offers the potential of enhancing resistance to bacterial pathogens that have evolved to evade FLS2-mediated immunity.
Summary
The bacterial flagellin (FliC) epitopes flg22 and flgII-28 are microbe-associated molecular patterns (MAMPs). While flg22 is recognized by many plant species via the pattern recognition receptor FLS2, neither the flgII-28 receptor nor the extent of flgII-28 recognition by different plant families is known.Here we tested the significance of flgII-28 as a MAMP and the importance of allelic diversity in flg22 and flgII-28 in plant–pathogen interactions using purified peptides and a Pseudomonas syringae ΔfliC mutant complemented with different fliC alleles.Plant genotype and allelic diversity in flg22 and flgII-28 were found to significantly affect the plant immune response but not bacterial motility. Recognition of flgII-28 is restricted to a number of Solanaceous species. While the flgII-28 peptide does not trigger any immune response in Arabidopsis, mutations in both flg22 and flgII-28 have FLS2-dependent effects on virulence. However, expression of a tomato allele of FLS2 does not confer to Nicotiana benthamiana the ability to detect flgII-28 and tomato plants silenced for FLS2 are not altered in flgII-28 recognition.Therefore, MAMP diversification is an effective pathogen virulence strategy and flgII-28 appears to be perceived by a yet unidentified receptor in the Solanaceae although it has an FLS2-dependent virulence effect in Arabidopsis.
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