Arabidopsis lysin-motif proteins LYM1 LYM3 CERK1 mediate bacterial peptidoglycan sensing and immunity to bacterial infection

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2011 Dec 6;108(49):19824-9. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1112862108. Epub 2011 Nov 21.

Abstract

Recognition of microbial patterns by host pattern recognition receptors is a key step in immune activation in multicellular eukaryotes. Peptidoglycans (PGNs) are major components of bacterial cell walls that possess immunity-stimulating activities in metazoans and plants. Here we show that PGN sensing and immunity to bacterial infection in Arabidopsis thaliana requires three lysin-motif (LysM) domain proteins. LYM1 and LYM3 are plasma membrane proteins that physically interact with PGNs and mediate Arabidopsis sensitivity to structurally different PGNs from gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria. lym1 and lym3 mutants lack PGN-induced changes in transcriptome activity patterns, but respond to fungus-derived chitin, a pattern structurally related to PGNs, in a wild-type manner. Notably, lym1, lym3, and lym3 lym1 mutant genotypes exhibit supersusceptibility to infection with virulent Pseudomonas syringae pathovar tomato DC3000. Defects in basal immunity in lym3 lym1 double mutants resemble those observed in lym1 and lym3 single mutants, suggesting that both proteins are part of the same recognition system. We further show that deletion of CERK1, a LysM receptor kinase that had previously been implicated in chitin perception and immunity to fungal infection in Arabidopsis, phenocopies defects observed in lym1 and lym3 mutants, such as peptidoglycan insensitivity and enhanced susceptibility to bacterial infection. Altogether, our findings suggest that plants share with metazoans the ability to recognize bacterial PGNs. However, as Arabidopsis LysM domain proteins LYM1, LYM3, and CERK1 form a PGN recognition system that is unrelated to metazoan PGN receptors, we propose that lineage-specific PGN perception systems have arisen through convergent evolution.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Arabidopsis / genetics
  • Arabidopsis / metabolism
  • Arabidopsis / microbiology
  • Arabidopsis Proteins / classification
  • Arabidopsis Proteins / genetics
  • Arabidopsis Proteins / metabolism*
  • Bacteria / growth & development
  • Bacteria / immunology
  • Bacteria / metabolism*
  • Disease Resistance / genetics
  • Disease Resistance / immunology
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Plant
  • Green Fluorescent Proteins / genetics
  • Green Fluorescent Proteins / metabolism
  • Host-Pathogen Interactions / immunology
  • Immunoblotting
  • Microscopy, Confocal
  • Mutation
  • Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis
  • Peptidoglycan / immunology
  • Peptidoglycan / metabolism*
  • Phylogeny
  • Plant Diseases / genetics
  • Plant Diseases / immunology
  • Plant Diseases / microbiology
  • Plants, Genetically Modified
  • Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases / genetics
  • Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases / metabolism*
  • Pseudomonas syringae / immunology
  • Pseudomonas syringae / metabolism
  • Pseudomonas syringae / physiology
  • Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
  • Staphylococcus aureus / immunology
  • Staphylococcus aureus / metabolism
  • Staphylococcus aureus / physiology
  • Transcriptome

Substances

  • Arabidopsis Proteins
  • LYM1 protein, Arabidopsis
  • LYM3 protein, Arabidopsis
  • Peptidoglycan
  • Green Fluorescent Proteins
  • CERK1 protein, Arabidopsis
  • Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases

Associated data

  • GEO/GSE28004