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bioRxiv · 10.1101/2024.04.19.590144

Cross-family transfer of the Arabidopsis cell-surface immune receptor LORE to tomato confers sensing of 3-hydroxylated fatty acids and enhanced disease resistance

Eschrig, S.·Kahlon, P. S.·Agius, C.·Holzer, A.·Hueckelhoven, R.·Schwechheimer, C.·Ranf, S.
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Abstract

Plant pathogens pose a high risk of yield losses and threaten food security. Technological and scientific advances have improved our understanding of the molecular processes underlying host-pathogen interactions, which paves the way for new strategies in crop disease management beyond the limits of conventional breeding. Cross-family transfer of immune receptor genes is one such strategy that takes advantage of common plant immune signaling pathways to improve disease resistance in crops. Sensing of microbe- or host damage-associated molecular patterns (MAMPs/DAMPs) by plasma membrane-resident pattern recognition receptors (PRR) activates pattern-triggered immunity (PTI) and restricts the spread of a broad spectrum of pathogens in the host plant. In the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana, the S-domain receptor-like kinase LIPOOLIGOSACCHARIDE-SPECIFIC REDUCED ELICITATION (AtLORE, SD1-29) functions as PRR, which senses medium chain-length 3-hydroxylated fatty acids (mc-3-OH-FAs), such as 3-OH-C10:0, and 3-hydroxyalkanoates (HAAs) of microbial origin to activate PTI. In this study, we show that ectopic expression of the Brassicaceae-specific PRR AtLORE in the solanaceous crop species Solanum lycopersicum cv. M82 leads to the gain of 3-OH-C10:0 immune sensing without altering plant development. AtLORE-transgenic tomato shows enhanced resistance against Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato DC3000 and Alternaria solani NL03003. Applying 3-OH-C10:0 to the soil before infection induces resistance against the oomycete pathogen Phytophthora infestans Pi100 and further enhances resistance to A. solani NL03003. Our study proposes a potential application of AtLORE-transgenic crop plants and mc-3-OH-FAs as resistance-inducing bio-stimulants in disease management.

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Eschrig, S., Kahlon, P. S., Agius, C., Holzer, A., Hueckelhoven, R., Schwechheimer, C., Ranf, S.. 2024-04-21. Cross-family transfer of the Arabidopsis cell-surface immune receptor LORE to tomato confers sensing of 3-hydroxylated fatty acids and enhanced disease resistance. https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.04.19.590144

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