Tuning the sensor of an immune receptor
Lead Research Organisation:
University of East Anglia
Department Name: Sainsbury Laboratory
Abstract
Pathogens use a suite of effector proteins that target host proteins to subdue immune systems and enable infection of the host. Occasionally, a pathogen strain evolves to infect a new host - a process known as a "host jump". Host jumps exert a strong selection pressure on the effectors to adapt to their new host environment, ultimately leading to effector and pathogen specialization. This project investigates pathogen adaptation and effector specialization after a host jump in the rice blast fungus, a complex pathogen of grasses. The rice blast fungus is critical for global food security as the main destroyer of the rice crop. It secretes a multitude of effectors. Avr-Pik is one such effector that targets rice proteins containing heavy metal associated (HMA) domains to enhance virulence. However, rice uses HMAs as sensors integrated in an immune receptor that detects Avr-Pik to mount defence. Recently, the crystal structure of a complex between Avr-Pik and the HMA from the immune receptor Pikp has been determined in our Laboratories. We showed that the affinity between Avr-Pik and HMA determined the sensitivity of the immune receptor. This offers an unprecedented opportunity to study the effect of natural variations on affinity between Avr-Piks and HMAs at the biochemical level. This project aims to exploit natural variation in effector and host proteins to fine-tune the sensor in Pikp to recognize a broader range of blast fungi.
People |
ORCID iD |
| Sophien Kamoun (Primary Supervisor) | |
| Aleksandra Bialas (Student) |
Publications
Bialas A
(2018)
Lessons in Effector and NLR Biology of Plant-Microbe Systems.
in Molecular plant-microbe interactions : MPMI
Langner T
(2018)
The Blast Fungus Decoded: Genomes in Flux.
in mBio
Upson JL
(2018)
The coming of age of EvoMPMI: evolutionary molecular plant-microbe interactions across multiple timescales.
in Current opinion in plant biology
Zess EK
(2019)
Old fungus, new trick.
in Nature microbiology
Studentship Projects
| Project Reference | Relationship | Related To | Start | End | Student Name |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BB/M011216/1 | 01/10/2015 | 31/03/2024 | |||
| 1771322 | Studentship | BB/M011216/1 | 01/10/2016 | 30/11/2020 | Aleksandra Bialas |
| Description | The Oryza genus has evolved the Pik-1 and Pik-2 proteins-a pair of NLR immune receptors that confer disease resistance to the rice blast fungus, Magnaporthe oryzae. Although the Pik-2 protein has a typical NLR domain architecture, Pik-1 carries an unconventional Heavy Metal-Associated (HMA) domain that directly binds the M. oryzae AVR-Pik effector. We aim to understand the evolutionary history of the Pik-1 receptor and test hypotheses about the adaptive evolution of its integrated HMA domain. Phylogenetic analyses of Pik orthologues indicated that the HMA domain integrated into Pik-1 nearly 50 million years ago. Ancestral HMA sequence reconstruction coupled with functional studies revealed that different allelic variants of Pik-1-Pikp-1 and Pikm-1-convergently evolved to recognise AVR-PikD. Using biophysical approaches, we functionally characterised two regions in the Pik-1 HMA that independently evolved towards high-affinity AVR-PikD binding from the weaker ancestral state. In both cases the HMA domain only recently acquired the capacity to bind the AVR-PikD effector with high affinity, indicating that for most of its evolutionary history the HMA was not subject to selective pressure imposed by this blast effector. In addition, although Pikp-1 and Pikm-1 receptors evolved to produce a similar phenotypic outcome, they underwent different evolutionary trajectories to do so. These findings indicate that the evolution of NLR receptors is even more dynamic than previously thought. |
| Exploitation Route | We'd like to further characterise the regions in Pikp-1 and Pikm-1 receptors that evolved high binding affinity to AVR-PikD effector. This knowledge can be utilized in NLR receptor engineering. |
| Sectors | Agriculture, Food and Drink |
| Description | BLASTOFF |
| Organisation | John Innes Centre |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | I been involved in regular meetings and conversation widely related to the Pik-mediated immune resistance in rice, and provided Mark Banfield and his group with some useful constructs. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Prof. Mark Banfield provided an intellectual support, mostly in the field of biophysics, as my secondary supervisor. He and his group has been involved in regular meetings and conversation widely related to the Pik-mediated immune resistance in rice, and provided me with some useful constructs. |
| Impact | Bialas A, Zess EK, De la Concepcion JC, Franceschetti M, Pennington HG, Yoshida K, Upson JL, Chanclud E, Wu CH, Langner T, Maqbool A, Varden FA, Derevnina L, Belhaj K, Fujisaki K, Saitoh H, Terauchi R, Banfield MJ, Kamoun S. Lessons in Effector and NLR Biology of Plant-Microbe Systems. Mol Plant Microbe Interact. 2018 Jan;31(1):34-45. doi: 10.1094/MPMI-08-17-0196-FI. |
| Start Year | 2016 |
| Description | BLASTOFF Japan |
| Organisation | Iwate Biotechnology Research Centre |
| Country | Japan |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | We have an ongoing collaboration with Prof Ryohei Terauchi and his lab how we exchange research information on the regular basis. |
| Collaborator Contribution | We have an ongoing collaboration with Prof Ryohei Terauchi and his lab how we exchange research information on the regular basis. |
| Impact | Bialas A, Zess EK, De la Concepcion JC, Franceschetti M, Pennington HG, Yoshida K, Upson JL, Chanclud E, Wu CH, Langner T, Maqbool A, Varden FA, Derevnina L, Belhaj K, Fujisaki K, Saitoh H, Terauchi R, Banfield MJ, Kamoun S. Lessons in Effector and NLR Biology of Plant-Microbe Systems. Mol Plant Microbe Interact. 2018 Jan;31(1):34-45. doi: 10.1094/MPMI-08-17-0196-FI. |
| Start Year | 2016 |
| Description | A tak t the IS-MPMI 2019 conference |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
| Results and Impact | An MPMI conference is the biggest conference bringing together scientists working on Plant-Microbe Interactionfrom around the globe. During a 2019 congress I gave a talk in the concurrent session, which was recieved with a lot of interest and questions from the audience. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | CSHL conference attendance |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
| Results and Impact | Attendance and a talk at the Plant Genomes & Biotechnology: From Genes to Networks Meeting, Cold S Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, New York |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | Norwich Science Festival science communication |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | Noriwich Science Festival open to general public where they could learn about plant-microbe interaction and science in general. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017,2018,2019 |
| Description | Organising Undergrad JIC Summer School practical Undergrad JIC Summer School |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
| Results and Impact | 20 undergrads were thought about plant-microbe interaction in a workshop setup |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016,2017 |
| Description | attendance "4th Annual Conference of the COST Action" meeting 4th Annual Conference of the COST Action,Slovenia |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
| Results and Impact | I presented a poster about my PhD research, |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | attendance and presentation at the Evolutionary Biology Meeting, France, 2018 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
| Results and Impact | I have given a talk and presented a poster about my PhD research to the scientists from the filed of Evolutionary Biology. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |