A fungal effector promotes infection via stabilizing a negative regulatory factor of chloroplast immunity
Abstract Chloroplasts are crucial players in immunity and photosynthesis. However, how chloroplasts arrange the transition between photosynthesis and immunity and how pathogens manipulate this transition remains elusive. Here we report an effector SsCm1 from Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, one of devastat...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2025-07-01
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| Series: | Nature Communications |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-62326-4 |
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| author | Kunqin Xiao Feng Yang Wenjing Cui Anmo Li Jeffrey A. Rollins Jinxin Guo Xinhua Sun Fengting Wang Xiaojie Wang Xun Xu Yanhua Zhang Xianghui Zhang Jinliang Liu Hongyu Pan |
| author_facet | Kunqin Xiao Feng Yang Wenjing Cui Anmo Li Jeffrey A. Rollins Jinxin Guo Xinhua Sun Fengting Wang Xiaojie Wang Xun Xu Yanhua Zhang Xianghui Zhang Jinliang Liu Hongyu Pan |
| author_sort | Kunqin Xiao |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Chloroplasts are crucial players in immunity and photosynthesis. However, how chloroplasts arrange the transition between photosynthesis and immunity and how pathogens manipulate this transition remains elusive. Here we report an effector SsCm1 from Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, one of devastating phytopathogenic fungi, inhibits chloroplast immunity and resistance to pathogens, and alleviates photoinhibition in immune state. This is accomplished through stabilizing the conserved chloroplast protein MORF2, which is degraded during immunization and is a suppressor of photoinhibition, cell death, and chloroplast immunity. Overexpression of SsCm1 or MORF2 in plants represses basic immunity and resistance to pathogens, whereas deletion of SsCm1 reduces S. sclerotiorum virulence. Notably, SsCm1 possesses no chorismate mutase activity, which is different from the previously reported Cm effectors. This work reveals a strategy to fine-tune growth-defense balance in chloroplasts by manipulating MORF2, and a pathogenic strategy to subvert the process and promote infection via enzymatically nonfunctional effector stabilizing MORF2. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-5b3e793e22a445a3b64381a8ed52470b |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2041-1723 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-07-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Nature Communications |
| spelling | doaj-art-5b3e793e22a445a3b64381a8ed52470b2025-08-20T03:05:14ZengNature PortfolioNature Communications2041-17232025-07-0116111910.1038/s41467-025-62326-4A fungal effector promotes infection via stabilizing a negative regulatory factor of chloroplast immunityKunqin Xiao0Feng Yang1Wenjing Cui2Anmo Li3Jeffrey A. Rollins4Jinxin Guo5Xinhua Sun6Fengting Wang7Xiaojie Wang8Xun Xu9Yanhua Zhang10Xianghui Zhang11Jinliang Liu12Hongyu Pan13College of Plant Sciences, Jilin UniversityCollege of Plant Sciences, Jilin UniversityCollege of Plant Sciences, Jilin UniversityCollege of Plant Sciences, Jilin UniversityDepartment of Plant Pathology, University of FloridaCollege of Plant Sciences, Jilin UniversityChongqing Key Laboratory of Plant Disease Biology, College of Plant Protection, Southwest UniversityCollege of Plant Sciences, Jilin UniversityState Key Laboratory of Crop Stress Biology for Arid Areas and College of Plant Protection, Northwest A&F UniversityCollege of Plant Sciences, Jilin UniversityCollege of Plant Sciences, Jilin UniversityCollege of Plant Sciences, Jilin UniversityCollege of Plant Sciences, Jilin UniversityCollege of Plant Sciences, Jilin UniversityAbstract Chloroplasts are crucial players in immunity and photosynthesis. However, how chloroplasts arrange the transition between photosynthesis and immunity and how pathogens manipulate this transition remains elusive. Here we report an effector SsCm1 from Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, one of devastating phytopathogenic fungi, inhibits chloroplast immunity and resistance to pathogens, and alleviates photoinhibition in immune state. This is accomplished through stabilizing the conserved chloroplast protein MORF2, which is degraded during immunization and is a suppressor of photoinhibition, cell death, and chloroplast immunity. Overexpression of SsCm1 or MORF2 in plants represses basic immunity and resistance to pathogens, whereas deletion of SsCm1 reduces S. sclerotiorum virulence. Notably, SsCm1 possesses no chorismate mutase activity, which is different from the previously reported Cm effectors. This work reveals a strategy to fine-tune growth-defense balance in chloroplasts by manipulating MORF2, and a pathogenic strategy to subvert the process and promote infection via enzymatically nonfunctional effector stabilizing MORF2.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-62326-4 |
| spellingShingle | Kunqin Xiao Feng Yang Wenjing Cui Anmo Li Jeffrey A. Rollins Jinxin Guo Xinhua Sun Fengting Wang Xiaojie Wang Xun Xu Yanhua Zhang Xianghui Zhang Jinliang Liu Hongyu Pan A fungal effector promotes infection via stabilizing a negative regulatory factor of chloroplast immunity Nature Communications |
| title | A fungal effector promotes infection via stabilizing a negative regulatory factor of chloroplast immunity |
| title_full | A fungal effector promotes infection via stabilizing a negative regulatory factor of chloroplast immunity |
| title_fullStr | A fungal effector promotes infection via stabilizing a negative regulatory factor of chloroplast immunity |
| title_full_unstemmed | A fungal effector promotes infection via stabilizing a negative regulatory factor of chloroplast immunity |
| title_short | A fungal effector promotes infection via stabilizing a negative regulatory factor of chloroplast immunity |
| title_sort | fungal effector promotes infection via stabilizing a negative regulatory factor of chloroplast immunity |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-62326-4 |
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