A Conserved Microbial Motif 'Traps' Protease Activation in Host Immunity

Mugdha Sabale; Antonio Di Pietro; Amey Redkar

doi:10.1016/j.tplants.2019.06.009

A Conserved Microbial Motif 'Traps' Protease Activation in Host Immunity

Trends Plant Sci. 2019 Aug;24(8):665-667. doi: 10.1016/j.tplants.2019.06.009. Epub 2019 Jul 4.

Authors

Mugdha Sabale¹, Antonio Di Pietro¹, Amey Redkar²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Genetics, University of Córdoba, Córdoba 14071, Spain.
² Department of Genetics, University of Córdoba, Córdoba 14071, Spain. Electronic address: ge2rerea@uco.es.

PMID: 31280986
DOI: 10.1016/j.tplants.2019.06.009

Abstract

A recent study (Misas-Villamil et al., Nat. Commun., 2019) reveals that Pit2, an apoplastic effector of the corn smut fungus Ustilago maydis, contains an embedded motif of 14 amino acids that binds to and inhibits plant cysteine proteases, thereby modulating host immunity. Intriguingly, the inhibitory motif acts by mimicking the protease substrate and is conserved across microbial kingdoms.

Keywords: Ustilago maydis; apoplast; microbial inhibitor; papain-like cysteine proteases; substrate.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Comment

MeSH terms

Peptide Hydrolases
Plant Immunity
Ustilago*
Zea mays

Substances

Peptide Hydrolases