The plant immune system involves cell-surface receptors required for pathogen-associated molecular pattern-triggered immunity (PTI) and intracellular receptors that activate effector-triggered immunity (ETI) upon detection of pathogen-secreted effectors. Both immune systems have been extensively studied but their interactions with each other are poorly understood. Here, we reveal mutual potentiation between PTI and ETI in arabidopsis plants exposed to Pseudomonas syringae bacteria. PTI activates multiple protein kinases and NADPH oxidases; ETI elevates abundance of these proteins. Reciprocally, the ETI-induced hypersensitive cell death response (HR) is strongly enhanced by PTI. Thus, the two immune systems function synergistically to activate strong defense that thwarts pathogens.
Coauthors: Hee-Kyung Ahn – The Sainsbury Laboratory;Pingtao Ding – The Sainsbury Laboratory;Jonathan Jones – The Sainsbury Laboratory
.jpg "Bruno Pok Man Ngou, BSc photo")