Independently Evolved Virulence Effectors Converge onto Hubs in a Plant Immune System Network

• Published in: Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) 2011-07, Vol.333 (6042), p.596-601
• Main Authors: Mukhtar, M. Shahid, Carvunis, Anne-Ruxandra, Dreze, Matija, Epple, Petra, Steinbrenner, Jens, Moore, Jonathan, Tasan, Murat, Galli, Mary, Hao, Tong, Nishimura, Marc T., Pevzner, Samuel J., Donovan, Susan E., Ghamsari, Lila, Santhanam, Balaji, Romero, Viviana, Poulin, Matthew M., Gebreab, Fana, Gutierrez, Bryan J., Tam, Stanley, Monachello, Dario, Boxem, Mike, Harbort, Christopher J., McDonald, Nathan, Gai, Lantian, Chen, Huaming, He, Yijian, Vandenhaute, Jean, Roth, Frederick P., Hill, David E., Ecker, Joseph R., Vidal, Marc, Beynon, Jim, Braun, Pascal, Dang, Jeffery L.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Arabidopsis; Arabidopsis - genetics; Arabidopsis - immunology; Arabidopsis - metabolism; Arabidopsis - microbiology; Arabidopsis proteins; Bacterial Proteins - metabolism; Biological and medical sciences; Cell biochemistry; Cell physiology; Connectivity; Convergence; Drug interactions; Evolution, Molecular; Evolutionary biology; Flowers & plants; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Genes, Plant; Host pathogen relationships; Host-Pathogen Interactions; Immune system; Immunity, Innate; Infections; Life Sciences; Networks; Oomycetes - pathogenicity; Pathogens; Plant Diseases - immunology; Plant Immunity; Plant physiology and development; Protein Interaction Mapping; Proteins; Pseudomonas syringae - pathogenicity; Receptors; Receptors, Immunologic - metabolism; Vegetal Biology; Virulence; Virulence Factors - metabolism
• ISSN: 0036-8075; 1095-9203
• DOI: 10.1126/science.1203659

Plants generate effective responses to infection by recognizing both conserved and variable pathogen-encoded molecules. Pathogens deploy virulence effector proteins into host cells, where they interact physically with host proteins to modulate defense. We generated an interaction network of plant-pathogen effectors from two pathogens spanning the eukaryote-eubacteria divergence, three classes of "Arabidopsis" immune system proteins, and ∼8000 other "Arabidopsis" proteins. We noted convergence of effectors onto highly interconnected host proteins and indirect, rather than direct, connections between effectors and plant immune receptors. We demonstrated plant immune system functions for 15 of 17 tested host proteins that interact with effectors from both pathogens. Thus, pathogens from different kingdoms deploy independently evolved virulence proteins that interact with a limited set of highly connected cellular hubs to facilitate their diverse life-cycle strategies.