Mj. Axtell et al., Mutational analysis of the Arabidopsis RPS2 disease resistance gene and the corresponding Pseudomonas syringae avrRpt2 avirulence gene, MOL PL MICR, 14(2), 2001, pp. 181-188
Plants have evolved a large number of disease resistance genes that encode
proteins containing conserved structural motifs that function to recognize
pathogen signals and to initiate defense responses. The Arabidopsis RPS2 ge
ne encodes a protein representative of the nucleotide-binding site-leucine-
rich repeat (NBS-LRR) class of plant resistance proteins. RPS2 specifically
recognizes Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato strains expressing the avrRpt2
gene and initiates defense responses to bacteria carrying avrRpt2, includin
g a hypersensitive cell death response (HR). We present an in planta mutage
nesis experiment that resulted in the isolation of a series of rps2 and avr
Rpt2 alleles that disrupt the RPS2-avrRpt2 gene-for-gene interaction. Seven
novel avrRpt2 alleles incapable of eliciting an RPS2-dependent HR all enco
de proteins with lesions in the C-terminal portion of AvrRpt2 previously sh
own to be sufficient for RPS2 recognition. Ten novel rps2 alleles were char
acterized with mutations in the NBS and the LRR, Several of these alleles c
ode for point mutations in motifs that are conserved among NBS-LRR resistan
ce genes, including the third LRR, which suggests the importance of these m
otifs for resistance gene function.