An effector of the Irish potato famine pathogen antagonizes a host autophagy cargo receptor
Abstract
Plants use autophagy to safeguard against infectious diseases. However, how plant pathogens interfere with autophagy related processes is unknown. Here we show that PexRD54, an effector from the Irish potato famine pathogen Phytophthora infestans, binds host autophagy protein ATG8CL to stimulate autophagosome formation. PexRD54 depletes the autophagy cargo receptor Joka2 out of ATG8CL complexes and interferes with Joka2's positive effect on pathogen defense. Thus a plant pathogen effector has evolved to antagonize a host autophagy cargo receptor in order to counteract host defenses.
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© 2016, Dagdas et al.
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.
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Further reading
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- Microbiology and Infectious Disease
- Plant Biology
Pathogens target proteins involved in autophagy to inhibit immune responses in plants.
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- Ecology
- Microbiology and Infectious Disease
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