The changing of the guard: The Pto/Prf receptor complex of tomato and pathogen recognition

Vardis Ntoukakis, Isabel M.L. Saur, Brendon Conlan, John P. Rathjen*

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

    46 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    One important model for disease resistance is the Prf recognition complex of tomato, which responds to different bacterial effectors. Prf incorporates a protein kinase called Pto as its recognition domain that mimics effector virulence targets, and activates resistance after interaction with specific effectors. Recent findings show that this complex is oligomeric, and reveal how this impacts mechanism. Oligomerisation brings two or more kinases into proximity, where they can phosphorylate each other after effector perception. Effector attack on one kinase activates another in trans, constituting a molecular trap for the effector. Oligomerisation of plant resistance proteins may be a general concept that broadens pathogen recognition and restricts the ability of pathogens to evolve virulence.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)69-74
    Number of pages6
    JournalCurrent Opinion in Plant Biology
    Volume20
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - Aug 2014

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'The changing of the guard: The Pto/Prf receptor complex of tomato and pathogen recognition'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this