Skip to main content
ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Albany, California » Plant Gene Expression Center » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #385829
Research Project: Discovery of Plant Genetic Mechanisms Controlling Microbial Recruitment to the Root Microbiome

Location: Plant Gene Expression Center

Title: Plant immunity suppression via PHR1-RALF-FERONIA shapes the root microbiome to alleviate phosphate starvation

Author
item TANG, JING - Hunan Agricultural University
item WU, DOUSHENG - Hunan Agricultural University
item LI, XIAOXU - Hunan Agricultural University
item WANG, LIFENG - Hunan Agricultural University
item XU, LIN - Hunan Agricultural University
item ZHANG, Y - Hunan Agricultural University
item XU, FAN - Hunan Agricultural University
item LIU, HONGBIN - Hunan Agricultural University
item XIE, Q - Hunan Agricultural University
item DAI, S - Hunan Agricultural University
item Coleman-Derr, Devin
item YU, FENG - Hunan Agricultural University

Submitted to: EMBO Journal
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/17/2022
Publication Date: 2/11/2022
Citation: Tang, J., Wu, D., Li, X., Wang, L., Xu, L., Zhang, Y., Xu, F., Liu, H., Xie, Q., Dai, S., Coleman-Derr, D.A., Yu, F. 2022. Plant immunity suppression via PHR1-RALF-FERONIA shapes the root microbiome to alleviate phosphate starvation. EMBO Journal. 41(6). Article e109102. https://doi.org/10.15252/embj.2021109102.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.15252/embj.2021109102

Interpretive Summary: As plant roots face both microorganisms and nutrient dynamics in soils, they need subtle and different immune response, when compared with phyllosphere. Under phosphate (Pi)-starvation, plants prioritize their phosphate starvation response (PSR) and inhibit immune response through the transcriptional regulator PHR1. However, the molecular mechanism underlying PHR1-mediated immunity suppression remains largely unknown.

Technical Abstract: Here, we report that PHR1 directly binds to the promoters of RALFs and activates their expression under Pi-starvation conditions. RALFs inhibit plant immunity by disrupting pathogen-associated molecular pattern (PAMP)-triggered immunity (PTI) complex formation through FERONIA, a previously identified PTI modulator with resistance to certain harmful microorganisms. PHR1-RALFs/FERONIA axis mediated immunity suppression allows enhanced colonization of beneficial microorganisms in roots. The rhizosphere microbiota from FER mutants further upregulate PSR genes expression to ultimately alleviate the PSR. Our work fills the gap of PHR1-mediated immunity inhibition and provides a model of how PTI related pathway prime colonization of beneficial microorganisms