The Irish potato famine pathogen Phytophthora infestans translocates the CRN8 kinase into host plant cells.

Phytopathogenic oomycetes, such as Phytophthora infestans, secrete an arsenal of effector proteins that modulate plant innate immunity to enable infection. We describe CRN8, a host-translocated effector of P. infestans that has kinase activity in planta. CRN8 is a modular protein of the CRN effector...

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Main Authors: Mireille van Damme, Tolga O Bozkurt, Cahid Cakir, Sebastian Schornack, Jan Sklenar, Alexandra M E Jones, Sophien Kamoun
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2012-01-01
Series:PLoS Pathogens
Online Access:https://journals.plos.org/plospathogens/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.ppat.1002875&type=printable
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author Mireille van Damme
Tolga O Bozkurt
Cahid Cakir
Sebastian Schornack
Jan Sklenar
Alexandra M E Jones
Sophien Kamoun
author_facet Mireille van Damme
Tolga O Bozkurt
Cahid Cakir
Sebastian Schornack
Jan Sklenar
Alexandra M E Jones
Sophien Kamoun
author_sort Mireille van Damme
collection DOAJ
description Phytopathogenic oomycetes, such as Phytophthora infestans, secrete an arsenal of effector proteins that modulate plant innate immunity to enable infection. We describe CRN8, a host-translocated effector of P. infestans that has kinase activity in planta. CRN8 is a modular protein of the CRN effector family. The C-terminus of CRN8 localizes to the host nucleus and triggers cell death when the protein is expressed in planta. Cell death induction by CRN8 is dependent on its localization to the plant nucleus, which requires a functional nuclear localization signal (NLS). The C-terminal sequence of CRN8 has similarity to a serine/threonine RD kinase domain. We demonstrated that CRN8 is a functional RD kinase and that its auto-phosphorylation is dependent on an intact catalytic site. Co-immunoprecipitation experiments revealed that CRN8 forms a dimer or multimer. Heterologous expression of CRN8 in planta resulted in enhanced virulence by P. infestans. In contrast, in planta expression of the dominant-negative CRN8(R469A;D470A) resulted in reduced P. infestans infection, further implicating CRN8 in virulence. Overall, our results indicate that similar to animal parasites, plant pathogens also translocate biochemically active kinase effectors inside host cells.
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publishDate 2012-01-01
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spelling doaj-art-8fd5c14c9fe644208d53fe2e766bf61d2025-08-20T03:26:47ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS Pathogens1553-73661553-73742012-01-0188e100287510.1371/journal.ppat.1002875The Irish potato famine pathogen Phytophthora infestans translocates the CRN8 kinase into host plant cells.Mireille van DammeTolga O BozkurtCahid CakirSebastian SchornackJan SklenarAlexandra M E JonesSophien KamounPhytopathogenic oomycetes, such as Phytophthora infestans, secrete an arsenal of effector proteins that modulate plant innate immunity to enable infection. We describe CRN8, a host-translocated effector of P. infestans that has kinase activity in planta. CRN8 is a modular protein of the CRN effector family. The C-terminus of CRN8 localizes to the host nucleus and triggers cell death when the protein is expressed in planta. Cell death induction by CRN8 is dependent on its localization to the plant nucleus, which requires a functional nuclear localization signal (NLS). The C-terminal sequence of CRN8 has similarity to a serine/threonine RD kinase domain. We demonstrated that CRN8 is a functional RD kinase and that its auto-phosphorylation is dependent on an intact catalytic site. Co-immunoprecipitation experiments revealed that CRN8 forms a dimer or multimer. Heterologous expression of CRN8 in planta resulted in enhanced virulence by P. infestans. In contrast, in planta expression of the dominant-negative CRN8(R469A;D470A) resulted in reduced P. infestans infection, further implicating CRN8 in virulence. Overall, our results indicate that similar to animal parasites, plant pathogens also translocate biochemically active kinase effectors inside host cells.https://journals.plos.org/plospathogens/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.ppat.1002875&type=printable
spellingShingle Mireille van Damme
Tolga O Bozkurt
Cahid Cakir
Sebastian Schornack
Jan Sklenar
Alexandra M E Jones
Sophien Kamoun
The Irish potato famine pathogen Phytophthora infestans translocates the CRN8 kinase into host plant cells.
PLoS Pathogens
title The Irish potato famine pathogen Phytophthora infestans translocates the CRN8 kinase into host plant cells.
title_full The Irish potato famine pathogen Phytophthora infestans translocates the CRN8 kinase into host plant cells.
title_fullStr The Irish potato famine pathogen Phytophthora infestans translocates the CRN8 kinase into host plant cells.
title_full_unstemmed The Irish potato famine pathogen Phytophthora infestans translocates the CRN8 kinase into host plant cells.
title_short The Irish potato famine pathogen Phytophthora infestans translocates the CRN8 kinase into host plant cells.
title_sort irish potato famine pathogen phytophthora infestans translocates the crn8 kinase into host plant cells
url https://journals.plos.org/plospathogens/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.ppat.1002875&type=printable
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