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MAP kinase signalling cascade in Arabidopsis innate immunity

Nature volume 415, pages 977–983 (2002)Cite this article

Abstract

There is remarkable conservation in the recognition of pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) by innate immune responses of plants, insects and mammals. We developed an Arabidopsis thaliana leaf cell system based on the induction of early-defence gene transcription by flagellin, a highly conserved component of bacterial flagella that functions as a PAMP in plants and mammals. Here we identify a complete plant MAP kinase cascade (MEKK1, MKK4/MKK5 and MPK3/MPK6) and WRKY22/WRKY29 transcription factors that function downstream of the flagellin receptor FLS2, a leucine-rich-repeat (LRR) receptor kinase. Activation of this MAPK cascade confers resistance to both bacterial and fungal pathogens, suggesting that signalling events initiated by diverse pathogens converge into a conserved MAPK cascade.

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Figure 1: Early-defence gene activation by flg22.
Figure 2: Flg22 activates MPK3 and MPK6 through FLS2.
Figure 3: MKK4 and MKK5 activate MPK3/MPK6 and early-defence genes.
Figure 4: MEKK1 initiates the flg22 MAPK cascade.
Figure 5: The flg22 MAPK cascade and specific WRKYs are important for Arabidopsis defence.
Figure 6: Model of innate immune signalling activated by LRR receptors in Arabidopsis, mammals and Drosophila.

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Acknowledgements

We thank C. Xiang for the pCB302 minibinary vector, O. R. Patharkar and J. Cushman for the DsRed-CSP1 plasmid; S. Volko and J. Stone for sharing unpublished information; S.-H. Cheng, B. Moore and I. Hwang for technical advice; W.-C. Chen for help in bioinformatics; and S. Ramu and F. Rolland for critical reading of the manuscript. This work was supported by a NSF plant genome project grant to J.S. and F.M.A., a USDA grant to J.S., and a NIH grant to F.M.A. T.A. was supported in part by fellowships from the Toyobo Biotechnology Foundation and the Uehara Memorial Foundation.

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  1. Tsuneaki Asai and Guillaume Tena: These authors contributed equally to the work

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Genetics, and Department of Molecular Biology, Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, 02114, Massachusetts, USA

    Tsuneaki Asai, Guillaume Tena, Joulia Plotnikova, Matthew R. Willmann, Wan-Ling Chiu, Frederick M. Ausubel & Jen Sheen

  2. Instituto de Desarrollo Regional, Sección de Biotecnología, Campus Universitario s/n, Albacete, E-02071, Spain

    Lourdes Gomez-Gomez

  3. Friedrich Miescher-Institute, PO Box 2543, Basel, CH-4002, Switzerland

    Thomas Boller

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Correspondence to Jen Sheen.

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Asai, T., Tena, G., Plotnikova, J. et al. MAP kinase signalling cascade in Arabidopsis innate immunity. Nature 415, 977–983 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/415977a

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