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Grant support
We thank Dr D. Scheel (Leibniz Institute of Plant Biochemistry, Germany), Dr C. Zipfel (Sainsbury Laboratory, UK), Dr T. Nurnberger and Dr Andrea Gust (University of Tubingen, Germany), Dr M. Knight (Durham University, UK) and Dr J. E. Parker (Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research, Cologne) for providing biological materials. We thank the Megazyme Technical Support Team and Dr Benoit Darblade (Elicytil, France) for providing quality control analyses of the MAMPs/DAMPs used in this article. The MALDI-TOF MS analyses were performed in the Proteomics Unit of Complutense University of Madrid that belongs to ProteoRed (PRB2-ISCIII supported by grant PT13/0001). This work was supported by Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO) grants BIO2015-64077-R and BIO2012-32910 to AM and BIO2013-41403-R to LFP. HM was funded by an IEF grant (Sign-WALLINg-624721) from the European Union and LB was recipient of a FPI fellowship (BES-2013-065010) from MINECO.
Analysis of institutional authors
Melida, HugoAuthorSopena-Torres, SaraCorresponding AuthorBacete, LauraAuthorGarrido-Arandia, MariaAuthorJorda, LuciaAuthorLopez, GemmaAuthorMunoz-Barrios, AntonioAuthorPacios, Luis F.Corresponding AuthorMolina, AntonioCorresponding AuthorNon-branched-1,3-glucan oligosaccharides trigger immune responses in Arabidopsis
Publicated to:Plant Journal. 93 (1): 34-49 - 2018-01-01 93(1), DOI: 10.1111/tpj.13755
Authors: Melida, Hugo; Sopena-Torres, Sara; Bacete, Laura; Garrido-Arandia, Maria; Jorda, Lucia; Lopez, Gemma; Munoz-Barrios, Antonio; Pacios, Luis F.; Molina, Antonio;
Affiliations
Abstract
Fungal cell walls, which are essential for environmental adaptation and host colonization by the fungus, have been evolutionarily selected by plants and animals as a source of microbe-associated molecular patterns (MAMPs) that, upon recognition by host pattern recognition receptors (PRRs), trigger immune responses conferring disease resistance. Chito-oligosaccharides [-1,4-N-acetylglucosamine oligomers, (GlcNAc)(n)] are the only glycosidic structures from fungal walls that have been well-demonstrated to function as MAMPs in plants. Perception of (GlcNAc)(4-8) by Arabidopsis involves CERK1, LYK4 and LYK5, three of the eight members of the LysM PRR family. We found that aglucan-enriched wall fraction from the pathogenic fungus Plectosphaerella cucumerina which was devoid of GlcNAc activated immune responses in Arabidopsis wild-type plants but not in the cerk1 mutant. Using this differential response, we identified the non-branched 1,3--d-(Glc) hexasaccharide as a major fungal MAMP. Recognition of 1,3--d-(Glc)(6) was impaired in cerk1 but not in mutants defective in either each of the LysM PRR family members or in the PRR-co-receptor BAK1. Transcriptomic analyses of Arabidopsis plants treated with 1,3--d-(Glc)(6) further demonstrated that this fungal MAMP triggers the expression of immunity-associated genes. In silico docking analyses with molecular mechanics and solvation energy calculations corroborated that CERK1 can bind 1,3--d-(Glc)(6) at effective concentrations similar to those of (GlcNAc)(4). These data support that plants, like animals, have selected as MAMPs the linear 1,3--d-glucans present in the walls of fungi and oomycetes. Our data also suggest that CERK1 functions as an immune co-receptor for linear 1,3--d-glucans in a similar way to its proposed function in the recognition of fungal chito-oligosaccharides and bacterial peptidoglycan MAMPs. Significance statement Despite pioneering work and recently regained momentum, the plant-specific knowledge about the mechanisms of -glucan perception and its role in activation of plant defence clearly lags behind the animal field. This article demonstrates that Arabidopsis can perceive non-branched 1,3--glucans of various degrees of polymerization and that this recognition is at least partially mediated by CERK1, but it does not involve BAK1, the co-receptor of other PRRs.
Keywords
Quality index
Bibliometric impact. Analysis of the contribution and dissemination channel
The work has been published in the journal Plant Journal due to its progression and the good impact it has achieved in recent years, according to the agency WoS (JCR), it has become a reference in its field. In the year of publication of the work, 2018, it was in position 11/228, thus managing to position itself as a Q1 (Primer Cuartil), in the category Plant Sciences. Notably, the journal is positioned above the 90th percentile.
From a relative perspective, and based on the normalized impact indicator calculated from World Citations provided by WoS (ESI, Clarivate), it yields a value for the citation normalization relative to the expected citation rate of: 3.04. This indicates that, compared to works in the same discipline and in the same year of publication, it ranks as a work cited above average. (source consulted: ESI Nov 14, 2024)
This information is reinforced by other indicators of the same type, which, although dynamic over time and dependent on the set of average global citations at the time of their calculation, consistently position the work at some point among the top 50% most cited in its field:
- Weighted Average of Normalized Impact by the Scopus agency: 5.25 (source consulted: FECYT Feb 2024)
- Field Citation Ratio (FCR) from Dimensions: 13.1 (source consulted: Dimensions Jun 2025)
Specifically, and according to different indexing agencies, this work has accumulated citations as of 2025-06-10, the following number of citations:
- WoS: 74
- Scopus: 116
- Europe PMC: 7
- OpenCitations: 115
Impact and social visibility
Leadership analysis of institutional authors
There is a significant leadership presence as some of the institution’s authors appear as the first or last signer, detailed as follows: First Author (MELIDA MARTINEZ, HUGO) and Last Author (MOLINA FERNANDEZ, ANTONIO).
the authors responsible for correspondence tasks have been SOPEÑA TORRES, SARA, FERNANDEZ PACIOS, LUIS and MOLINA FERNANDEZ, ANTONIO.