NO VEIN is an ancestral immunity protein involved in plant-virus interaction
- 1Max Planck Institute for Biology Tübingen
Abstract
The conservation of immune systems from prokaryotes to eukaryotes can guide discovery of immunity genes across the tree of life. Most studies to date have focused on metazoan systems, while the extent of ancestral immunity conservation in plants remains underexplored. Here we show that NO VEIN (NOV), a plant protein previously characterized for its essential developmental roles in Arabidopsis thaliana, shares domain composition and structural similarity with Tiamat, a bacterial antiphage protein. In light of the antiviral function of the bacterial protein, we asked whether NOV is involved in plant-virus interactions. We found that NOV knockdown in the model plant Nicotiana benthamiana resulted in an impaired transcriptional response to tobacco rattle virus, including reduced induction of defense genes, and observed increased potato virus x accumulation in a secondary infection. We also reveal that NOV, previously considered plant-specific, has homologs in animals - pointing to a shared origin. Together, these findings uncover a deeply conserved protein involved in plant-virus interaction, and demonstrate the power of prokaryote-eukaryote homology to reveal new aspects of plant biology.
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BibTeX
@misc{lageide2026vein,
title = {{NO VEIN is an ancestral immunity protein involved in plant-virus interaction}},
author = {E. Lageide and M. Abraham and N. Glück and H. Pfingst and L. A. Burkhardt and L. Medina-Puche and R. Lozano-Duran and G. Ofir},
howpublished = {bioRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.64898/2026.09.30.755639},
url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.30.755639v1},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - NO VEIN is an ancestral immunity protein involved in plant-virus interaction
AU - E. Lageide
AU - M. Abraham
AU - N. Glück
AU - H. Pfingst
AU - L. A. Burkhardt
AU - L. Medina-Puche
AU - R. Lozano-Duran
AU - G. Ofir
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/30
PB - bioRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.09.30.755639
UR - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.30.755639v1
AB - The conservation of immune systems from prokaryotes to eukaryotes can guide discovery of immunity genes across the tree of life. Most studies to date have focused on metazoan systems, while the extent of ancestral immunity conservation in plants remains underexplored. Here we show that NO VEIN (NOV), a plant protein previously characterized for its essential developmental roles in Arabidopsis thaliana, shares domain composition and structural similarity with Tiamat, a bacterial antiphage protein. In light of the antiviral function of the bacterial protein, we asked whether NOV is involved in plant-virus interactions. We found that NOV knockdown in the model plant Nicotiana benthamiana resulted in an impaired transcriptional response to tobacco rattle virus, including reduced induction of defense genes, and observed increased potato virus x accumulation in a secondary infection. We also reveal that NOV, previously considered plant-specific, has homologs in animals - pointing to a shared origin. Together, these findings uncover a deeply conserved protein involved in plant-virus interaction, and demonstrate the power of prokaryote-eukaryote homology to reveal new aspects of plant biology.
ER -