Journal Article
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 111, iss. 18, pp. 6846-6851, 2014
Authors
Jeffrey C. Anderson, Ying Wan, Young-Mo Kim, Ljiljana Paša-Tolić, Thomas O. Metz, Scott C. Peck
Abstract
Significance
Pathogenic bacteria inject effector proteins into the host to suppress its defenses. However, bacteria produce the effector proteins and injection machinery only upon recognition of a potential host. Here we identified an
Arabidopsis
mutant,
mapk phosphatase 1
(
mkp1
), with decreased levels of chemical signals recognized by the bacterium, thus making the plant more resistant by suppressing the ability of the pathogen,
Pseudomonas syringae
, to express and inject effector proteins. Reapplying these chemical signals not only eliminated resistance in the
mkp1
mutant but also suppressed resistance in wild-type plants with a preinduced immune response. These results demonstrate an important layer in determining the biological outcome during host–pathogen interactions and may provide new targets for enhancing resistance against bacterial pathogens.
