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"Plant defenses."
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The role of antimicrobial peptides in plant immunity
Antimicrobial peptides are one of the most prominent defensive barriers utilized by plants to halt pathogen attack but their role in the plant immune system extends beyond basic antimicrobial activity.
Abstract
Selective pressure imposed by millions of years of relentless biological attack has led to the development of an extraordinary array of defense strategies in plants. Among these, antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) stand out as one of the most prominent components of the plant immune system. These small and usually basic peptides are deployed as a generalist defense strategy that grants direct and durable resistance against biotic stress. Even though their name implies a function against microbes, the range of plant-associated organisms affected by these peptides is much broader. In this review, we highlight the advances in our understanding on the role of AMPs in plant immunity. We demonstrate that the capacity of plant AMPs to act against a large spectrum of enemies relies on their diverse mechanism of action and remarkable structural stability. The efficacy of AMPs as a defense strategy is evidenced by their widespread occurrence in the plant kingdom, an astonishing heterogeneity in host peptide composition, and the extent to which plant enemies have evolved effective counter-measures to evade AMP action. Plant AMPs are becoming an important topic of research due to their significance in allowing plants to thrive and for their enormous potential in agronomical and pharmaceutical fields.
Journal Article
A tripartite rheostat controls self-regulated host plant resistance to insects
Plants deploy receptor-like kinases and nucleotide-binding leucine-rich repeat receptors to confer host plant resistance (HPR) to herbivores
1
. These gene-for-gene interactions between insects and their hosts have been proposed for more than 50 years
2
. However, the molecular and cellular mechanisms that underlie HPR have been elusive, as the identity and sensing mechanisms of insect avirulence effectors have remained unknown. Here we identify an insect salivary protein perceived by a plant immune receptor. The BPH14-interacting salivary protein (BISP) from the brown planthopper (
Nilaparvata lugens
Stål) is secreted into rice (
Oryza sativa
) during feeding. In susceptible plants, BISP targets
O.
satvia
RLCK185 (
Os
RLCK185; hereafter
Os
is used to denote
O.
satvia
-related proteins or genes) to suppress basal defences. In resistant plants, the nucleotide-binding leucine-rich repeat receptor BPH14 directly binds BISP to activate HPR. Constitutive activation of
Bph14
-mediated immunity is detrimental to plant growth and productivity. The fine-tuning of
Bph14
-mediated HPR is achieved through direct binding of BISP and BPH14 to the selective autophagy cargo receptor
Os
NBR1, which delivers BISP to
Os
ATG8 for degradation. Autophagy therefore controls BISP levels. In
Bph14
plants, autophagy restores cellular homeostasis by downregulating HPR when feeding by brown planthoppers ceases. We identify an insect saliva protein sensed by a plant immune receptor and discover a three-way interaction system that offers opportunities for developing high-yield, insect-resistant crops.
Insect salivary protein (BISP) targets
Os
RLCK185 to suppress defence in susceptible plants, whereas in resistant plants BISP binds BPH14 to activate host plant resistance. To restore cellular homeostasis, the resistance mechanism is fine-tuned by selective autophagy.
Journal Article
Prickly plants
\"Prickly Plants introduces readers to thorny and spiney plants from around the world and the ways in which they use thorns and spines to protect themselves. From cacti to the crown of thorns, readers will be fascinated with these plants' prickly defenses!\"-- Provided by publisher.
Book
Microbiota of pest insect Nezara viridula mediate detoxification and plant defense repression
The Southern green shield bug, Nezara viridula, is an invasive piercing and sucking pest insect that feeds on crop plants and poses a threat to global food production. Given that insects are known to live in a close relationship with microorganisms, our study provides insights into the community composition and function of the N. viridula-associated microbiota and its effect on host–plant interactions. We discovered that N. viridula hosts both vertically and horizontally transmitted microbiota throughout different developmental stages and their salivary glands harbor a thriving microbial community that is transmitted to the plant while feeding. The N. viridula microbiota was shown to aid its host with the detoxification of a plant metabolite, namely 3-nitropropionic acid, and repression of host plant defenses. Our results demonstrate that the N. viridula-associated microbiota plays an important role in interactions between insects and plants and could therefore be considered a valuable target for the development of sustainable pest control strategies.
Journal Article
Beyond nutrients: a meta-analysis of the diverse effects of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi on plants and soils
Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) can increase plant fitness under certain environmental conditions. Among the mechanisms that may drive this mutualism, the most studied is provisioning of nutrients by AMF in exchange for carbon from plant hosts. However, AMF may also provide a suite of non-nutritional benefits to plants including improved water uptake, disease resistance, plant chemical defense, soil aggregation, and allelochemical transport and protection. Here, we use a meta-analysis of 93 studies to assess the relative effect of AMF on nutritional and non-nutritional factors that may influence plant fitness. We find that the positive effects of AMF on soil aggregation, water flow and disease resistance are equal to the effect of AMF on plant nitrogen and phosphorus uptake. However, AMF had no effect on the uptake of other nutrients, plant water content, allelopathic transport or production of chemical defense compounds. We suggest future research directions, including experimentally assessing the relative contribution on plant fitness of AMF interactions by untangling the independence of alternative benefits of AMF from an increase in nutrient uptake. This will lead to a more holistic view of the mycorrhizal-plant association and a more accurate picture of the net impact on the plant or plant community in question.
Journal Article
Plants that mimic
When you look at a plant, how can you tell if its really the plant you think it is, or if its just playing pretend? Some plants practice mimicry, which is a defense mechanism that keeps them from being disturbed, or worse, eaten by enemies. Readers learn about plants that have evolved to practice mimicry and how its essential to their survival. Through colorful photographs of various plant species, as well as language that is designed to be fun yet informative, this title will turn any beginning science student into a budding botanist.
Book
Color-dependent defense mechanisms of Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.) against Spodoptera exigua: metabolomic and transcriptomic insights
Background
Quinoa (
Chenopodium quinoa
Willd.) exhibits a diverse and complex response to various organisms and environmental factors. The
Spodoptera exigua
elicits varying levels of damage in different crops. Secondary metabolites in quinoa induce defense mechanisms against
S. exigua
and play a key role in influencing its feeding preferences. Although the co-evolution of quinoa and
S. exigua
has been explored, the understanding of the interaction between these species remains limited. We aimed to evaluate the defense mechanisms of differently colored quinoa (red, white, yellow, and black) against
S. exigua
using metabolomics and transcriptome analyses. Metabolomic analysis was used to identify insect-resistant metabolites in four differently colored quinoa cultivars, whereas transcriptome analysis was used to explore related pathways and gene associations.
Results
Quinoa resistant cultivars has higher levels of protective metabolites and mechanisms. Quinoa constitutive defense refers to the significant metabolism of ferulic compounds and lignin in plants to enhance their own resistance. Meanwhile, a significant expression of anthelmintic differential metabolites, including indole 3-acetic acid, choline, ferulic acid, caffeic acid, and anthranilic acid, was observed. The structural genes regulated by kaempferol (3,5,7,4′-tetrahydroxyflavone) and kaempferol-3-O-rhamnoside, along with genes downstream of quercetin-3-O-rhamnoside and MYB/MYB-related transcription factor, exhibited high expression levels in all four colors of insect-resistant quinoa. Among all quinoa cultivars, the red quinoa cultivar showed the most distinct variation in metabolite species and contents, insect-resistance was also relatively high.
Conclusions
These findings reveal that the types of different metabolites and MYB/MYB related transcription factors play a crucial role in influencing the expression of genes related to quinoa color and regulation, as well as in distinguishing the insect resistance of quinoa with different colors. These findings provide a basis for selecting and identifying new insect-resistant differently colored quinoa cultivars.
Journal Article