Immune surveillance at plasmodesmata restricts the movement of a fungal effector
- 1John Innes Centre, Norwich, UK
Abstract
To establish infection, phytopathogens deploy effectors to compromise host defences and facilitate invasive growth. As part of this, the battle for control of symplastic connectivity via plasmodesmata is a key determinant of infection outcomes, yet little is known about how fungal effectors directly exploit these channels, and in turn, how hosts defend them. Here, we have identified ChEC108 as a plasmodesmal-targeting, cell-to-cell mobile effector from the anthracnose fungus, Colletotrichum higginsianum. ChEC108 binds the plasmodesmal protein HEAVY METAL-ASSOCIATED (HMA) ISOPRENYLATED PLANT PROTEIN 6 (HIPP6) from Arabidopsis via a tetrahedral metal ion coordination site with either of its HMA domains. This binding event induces plasmodesmal closure, impairing the cell-to-cell mobility of ChEC108. Alongside the finding that loss of either HIPP6 from the host or ChEC108 from C. higginsianum favours infection, we conclude that HIPP6 detects the presence of an invading fungus and elicits defence.
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BibTeX
@misc{turley2026immune,
title = {{Immune surveillance at plasmodesmata restricts the movement of a fungal effector}},
author = {E. K. Turley and D. S. Yu and A. Breakspear and J. Jennings and M.-J. A. Bautista and S. Jones and B. Ravi and R. Zdrzalek and W. Ma and A. R. Bentham and L. Ryder and N. J. Talbot and M. J. Banfield and C. Faulkner},
howpublished = {bioRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = may,
doi = {10.64898/2026.05.19.726166},
url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.05.19.726166v2},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Immune surveillance at plasmodesmata restricts the movement of a fungal effector
AU - E. K. Turley
AU - D. S. Yu
AU - A. Breakspear
AU - J. Jennings
AU - M.-J. A. Bautista
AU - S. Jones
AU - B. Ravi
AU - R. Zdrzalek
AU - W. Ma
AU - A. R. Bentham
AU - L. Ryder
AU - N. J. Talbot
AU - M. J. Banfield
AU - C. Faulkner
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/05/19
PB - bioRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.05.19.726166
UR - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.05.19.726166v2
AB - To establish infection, phytopathogens deploy effectors to compromise host defences and facilitate invasive growth. As part of this, the battle for control of symplastic connectivity via plasmodesmata is a key determinant of infection outcomes, yet little is known about how fungal effectors directly exploit these channels, and in turn, how hosts defend them. Here, we have identified ChEC108 as a plasmodesmal-targeting, cell-to-cell mobile effector from the anthracnose fungus, Colletotrichum higginsianum. ChEC108 binds the plasmodesmal protein HEAVY METAL-ASSOCIATED (HMA) ISOPRENYLATED PLANT PROTEIN 6 (HIPP6) from Arabidopsis via a tetrahedral metal ion coordination site with either of its HMA domains. This binding event induces plasmodesmal closure, impairing the cell-to-cell mobility of ChEC108. Alongside the finding that loss of either HIPP6 from the host or ChEC108 from C. higginsianum favours infection, we conclude that HIPP6 detects the presence of an invading fungus and elicits defence.
ER -