The Fusarium oxysporum Avr2-Six5 Effector Pair Alters Plasmodesmatal Exclusion Selectivity to Facilitate Cell-to-Cell Movement of Avr2

Pathogens use effector proteins to manipulate their hosts. During infection of tomato, the fungus Fusarium oxysporum secretes the effectors Avr2 and Six5. Whereas Avr2 suffices to trigger I-2-mediated cell death in heterologous systems, both effectors are required for I-2-mediated disease resistance in tomato. How Six5 participates in triggering resistance is unknown. Using bimolecular fluorescence complementation assays we found that Avr2 and Six5 interact at plasmodesmata. Single-cell transformation revealed that a 2xRFP marker protein and Avr2-GFP only move to neighboring cells in the presence of Six5. Six5 alone does not alter plasmodesmatal transduction as 2xRFP was only translocated in the presence of both effectors. In SIX5-expressing transgenic plants, the distribution of virally expressed Avr2-GFP, and subsequent onset of I-2-mediated cell death, differed from that in wild-type tomato. Taken together, our data show that in the presence of Six5, Avr2 moves from cell to cell, which in susceptible plants contributes to virulence, but in I-2 containing plants induces resistance.

Transcomplementation, but not Physical Association of the CC-NB-ARC and LRR Domains of Tomato R Protein Mi-1.2 is Altered by Mutations in the ARC2 Subdomain

Race-specific disease resistance in plants is mediated by Resistance （R） proteins that recognize pathogen at- tack and initiate defence responses. Most R proteins contain a central NB-ARC domain and a C-terminal leucine-rich repeat （LRR） domain. We analyzed the intramolecular interaction of the LRR domain of tomato R protein Mi-1.2 with its N- terminus. We expressed the CC-NB-ARC and LRR parts in trans and analyzed functional transcomplementation and physical interactions. We show that these domains functionally transcomplement when expressed in trans. Known autoactivating LRR domain swaps were found to induce a hypersensitive response （HR） upon co-expression. Likewise, autoactivating mutants in the NB subdomain transcomplemented to induce HR. Point mutations in the ARC2 subdomain that induce strong autoactivation in the full-length Mi-1.2 protein, however, fail to induce HR in the transcomplementation assay, These data indicate distinct functions for the NB-ARC subdomains in induction of HR signalling. Furthermore, dissociation of the LRR is not required to release its negative regulation, as in all combinations of CC-NB-ARC and LRR domains tested, a physical interaction was observed.