Repository logo
 

A protein complex required for polar growth of rhizobial infection threads.

Published version
Peer-reviewed

Loading...
Thumbnail Image

Type

Article

Change log

Authors

Liu, Cheng-Wu 
Breakspear, Andrew 
Stacey, Nicola 
Findlay, Kim 
Nakashima, Jin 

Abstract

During root nodule symbiosis, intracellular accommodation of rhizobia by legumes is a prerequisite for nitrogen fixation. For many legumes, rhizobial colonization initiates in root hairs through transcellular infection threads. In Medicago truncatula, VAPYRIN (VPY) and a putative E3 ligase LUMPY INFECTIONS (LIN) are required for infection thread development but their cellular and molecular roles are obscure. Here we show that LIN and its homolog LIN-LIKE interact with VPY and VPY-LIKE in a subcellular complex localized to puncta both at the tip of the growing infection thread and at the nuclear periphery in root hairs and that the punctate accumulation of VPY is positively regulated by LIN. We also show that an otherwise nuclear and cytoplasmic exocyst subunit, EXO70H4, systematically co-localizes with VPY and LIN during rhizobial infection. Genetic analysis shows that defective rhizobial infection in exo70h4 is similar to that in vpy and lin. Our results indicate that VPY, LIN and EXO70H4 are part of the symbiosis-specific machinery required for polar growth of infection threads.

Description

Keywords

Agrobacterium, Gene Expression Regulation, Plant, Medicago truncatula, Plant Proteins, Plant Root Nodulation, Plant Roots, Sinorhizobium meliloti, Symbiosis, Two-Hybrid System Techniques

Journal Title

Nature Communications

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

2041-1723
2041-1723

Volume Title

10

Publisher

Nature Publishing Group
Sponsorship
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BB/K003712/1)
This work was supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (2016YFA0500500), the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (grant no. BB/L010305/1 [David Phillips Fellowship]) and by French National Research grants (TULIP ANR-10-LABX-41 (TULIP)/COME-IN ANR-14-CE35-0007-01).