Chinese Bulletin of Botany ›› 2023, Vol. 58 ›› Issue (3): 353-355.DOI: 10.11983/CBB23064

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The Host Controls the Protein Level of Insect Effectors to Balance Immunity and Growth

Yuqiang Liu1, Jianmin Wan1,2()   

  1. 1State Key Laboratory of Crop Genetics & Germplasm Enhancement and Utilization, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China
    2Institute of Crop Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China
  • Received:2023-05-17 Accepted:2023-05-24 Online:2023-05-01 Published:2023-06-14
  • Contact: *E-mail: wanjianmin@caas.cn

Abstract: Crop production is constantly threatened by various insect pests, revealing the mechanism underlying insect and host interaction is essential for environmentally-friendly pest management. Guangcun He and colleagues from Wuhan University identified and characterized a saliva protein BISP of the brown planthopper (BPH). In susceptible varieties, BISP targets OsRLCK185 and inhibits the basic defense. In varieties carrying the brown planthopper resistance gene Bph14, BPH14 directly binds to BISP and activates the host immune response but inhibits rice growth. BISP-BPH14 binds to the autophagic cargo receptor OsNBR1 and results in the degradation of BISP through the autophagic pathway, downregulating rice resistance against BPH and restoring the plant growth. This study illustrated the first insect salivary protein perceived by plant immune receptor, and revealed the molecular mechanism underlying the balance of immunity and growth in host by perceiving and regulating the protein level of insect effectors, which provides new ideas for developing high-yield insect resistant rice varieties.

Key words: rice, brown planthopper, insect resistance gene, saliva protein, autophagy