Biology subjects

Gebauer, J. M.

Publications and source records attributed to Gebauer, J. M..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2026

TeTIR domains define a new class of animal TIR-like NADase effectors in STAND proteins

TIR domains are found in diverse immune signaling proteins and, in several systems, function as NAD+-cleaving enzymes causing or signaling cell death. In plants, TIR domains occur as effector domains in TNL immune receptors, where they are coupled to a central STAND ATPase and a C-terminal repeat domain. Here, we identify TeTIR (TEP1 extended TIR), a previously unrecognized family of TIR-like domains associated with NACHT-type ATPases and C-terminal WD40 or TPR repeat domains. The TeTIR domain of human TEP1 exhibits robust NADase activity comparable to SARM1-TIR, making TEP1 the only other NADase-active TIR-like protein identified in mammals. NADase activity is conserved in TEP1 homologs from diverse eukaryotes. The crystal structure of TEP1 TeTIR reveals an extended TIR-like fold with additional secondary-structure elements and a distinctive RWG-containing loop. Molecular dynamics simulations indicate that the catalytic glutamate contributes to catalysis and the conformational equilibrium of the active-site region, promoting formation of a substrate-accessible state. Structure-guided mutagenesis identifies conserved residues contributing to NAD+ recognition and catalysis, including features distinct from canonical TIR NADases. Expression of isolated TEP1 TeTIR causes NAD+ depletion and cell death in a catalytic-glutamate-dependent manner. TeTIRs thus define a distinct family of animal TIR-like NADases embedded in NACHT-type STAND architectures.

biochemistry↗

bioRxiv2025

DUCs are C2 domain containing plant-specific deubiquitinases stabilizing endocytic cargo at the plasma membrane

Deubiquitinases (DUBs) remove ubiquitin modifications from proteins in a substrate- or linkage-selective manner and regulate numerous cell-biological processes, including endocytosis. By performing homology-agnostic bioinformatical screens for undescribed deubiquitinase classes, we identified the plant-specific DUC (deubiquitinase with C2) family, whose members are highly selective for cleaving K63-linked ubiquitin chains. The crystal structure of the Arabidopsis member AtDUC1 reveals that DUC enzymes display a papain-like fold with a characteristic DUB-like active site, despite the apparent absence of sequence similarity to other deubiquitinase families. The K63 linkage specificity is attributed to the recognition of both distal and proximal ubiquitin units via highly conserved contact residues. Arabidopsis DUC members localize to the plasma membrane by virtue of their lipid-binding C2-like domains. In protoplast experiments, all three Arabidopsis DUC enzymes demonstrate the capacity to stabilize an endocytotic model cargo at the plasma membrane, a process that requires both the C2-mediated membrane association and catalytic DUB activity.

biochemistry↗

bioRxiv2023

Structural polymorphisms within a common powdery mildew effector scaffold as a driver of co-evolution with cereal immune receptors

In plants, host-pathogen coevolution often manifests in reciprocal, adaptive genetic changes through variations in host nucleotide-binding leucine-rich repeat immune receptors (NLR) and virulence-promoting pathogen effectors. In grass powdery mildew (PM) fungi, an extreme expansion of a RNase-like effector family, termed RALPH, dominates the effector repertoire, with some members recognized as avirulence (AVR) effectors by cereal NLR receptors. We report the structures of the sequence-unrelated barley PM effectors AVRA6, AVRA7 and allelic AVRA10/AVRA22 variants, which are detected by highly sequence-related barley NLRs MLA6, MLA7, MLA10, and MLA22, and of wheat PM AVRPM2 detected by the unrelated wheat NLR PM2. The AVR effectors adopt a common scaffold, which is shared with the ribonuclease (RNase) T1/F1-family. We found striking variations in the number, position, and length of individual structural elements between RALPH AVRs, which is associated with a differentiation of RALPH effector subfamilies. We show that all RALPH AVRs tested have lost nuclease and synthetase activities of the RNase T1/F1- family and lack significant binding to RNA, implying that their virulence activities are associated with neo-functionalization events. Structure-guided mutagenesis identified six AVRA6 residues that are sufficient to turn a sequence-diverged member of the same RALPH subfamily into an effector specifically detected by MLA6. Similar structure-guided information for AVRA10 and AVRA22 indicates that MLA receptors detect largely distinct effector surface patches. Thus, coupling of sequence and structural polymorphisms within the RALPH scaffold of PMs facilitated escape from NLR recognition and potential acquisition of diverse virulence functions.

plant biology↗