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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Albany, California » Plant Gene Expression Center » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #382564
Research Project: Discovery of Plant Genetic Mechanisms Controlling Microbial Recruitment to the Root Microbiome

Location: Plant Gene Expression Center

Title: Nematode-encoded RALF Peptide Mimics Facilitate Parasitism of Plants through the FERONIA Receptor Kinase

Author
item ZHANG, XIN - Hunan Normal University
item PENG, HUAN - Hunan Normal University
item ZHU, SIRUI - Hunan Normal University
item XING, JUINJIE - Hunan Normal University
item LI, XIN - Hunan Normal University
item ZHU, ZHAOZHONG - Hunan Normal University
item ZHENG, JINGYUAN - Hunan Normal University
item WANG, LONG - Hunan Normal University
item WANG, BINGQIAN - Hunan Normal University
item CHEN, JIA - Hunan Normal University
item MING, ZHENHUA - Hunan Normal University
item YAO, KE - Hunan Normal University
item JIAN, JINZHAO - Hunan Normal University
item LUAN, SHENG - University Of California
item Coleman-Derr, Devin
item LIAO, HONGDONG - Hunan Normal University
item PENG, YOUSONG - Hunan Normal University
item PENG, DELIANG - Hunan Normal University
item YU, FENG - Hunan Normal University

Submitted to: Molecular Plant
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/27/2020
Publication Date: 9/4/2020
Citation: Zhang, X., Peng, H., Zhu, S., Xing, J., Li, X., Zhu, Z., Zheng, J., Wang, L., Wang, B., Chen, J., Ming, Z., Yao, K., Jian, J., Luan, S., Coleman-Derr, D.A., Liao, H., Peng, Y., Peng, D., Yu, F. 2020. Nematode-encoded RALF Peptide Mimics Facilitate Parasitism of Plants through the FERONIA Receptor Kinase. Molecular Plant. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molp.2020.08.014.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molp.2020.08.014

Interpretive Summary: Parasites can consume host nutrients to benefit their own growth and fitness; at the same time, parasites also trigger plant immune responses that can limit host growth and greatly affect crop production. For successful invasion, some parasites have evolved various means to reduce these host immune responses and/or enhance microorganism virulence during their infection. Parasitic nematodes infect thousands of plant species, but the molecular mechanism of how plants defend against these pests is largely unknown. Here, we observed the receptor-like kinase FERONIA (FER) mutation causes resistance in Arabidopsis thaliana to root-knot nematode Meloidogyne incognita. FER and its ligand peptide, rapid alkalinization factors (RALFs), are found to been encoded by plants genome and regulate plant growth and survival.

Technical Abstract: In this study, we identified nineteen new RALF-like peptides from multiple root-knot nematodes. Phylogenetic analysis and gene structure analysis all support the hypothesis that nematode RALFs may have originated through horizontal gene transfer from plants. We confirmed that two RALF-like peptide genes from M. incognita (i.e., MiRALF1 and MiRALF3) were expressed in the dorsal esophageal gland and upregulated during the parasitic stages. These expressed nematode RALFs also have the typical activities of plant RALFs. Furthermore, nematode RALF peptides can bind to FER extracellular domain and inhibit certain immune response steps through FER. Both MiRALF3 gene silencing and FER rice homologues mutation, like Arabidopsis fer-4, causes resistance to root-knot nematode, suggesting nematode-encoded RALF facilitate parasitism via plant-encoded FER kinase and this paradigm probable is a conserved mechanism in crop species. This work provides novel insights into the roles of nematode-encoded RALF peptides and suggests the cross-kingdom signal-receptor (CSR) model may play an important role in the adaptive evolution of parasites.