Mechanisms of NB-LRR disease resistance protein function

植物是各种微生物的营养来源。其中许多会降低植物的适应性和生产力，因此是病原体。植物病原体危害农作物，特别是在发展中地区，那里昂贵的（通常是不可持续的）杀真菌剂和杀虫剂超出了大多数农民的经济能力。由于植物病害造成的产量损失也是“水分损失”，因为这种资源通常在病害摧毁作物之前就投入了。因此，通过合理部署植物免疫系统来成功防治植物病害将直接有助于人类和环境健康，并节省大量淡水。植物免疫系统使用一个蛋白质家族来识别入侵微生物的蛋白质。关键的植物蛋白质被称为“抗病受体”，并具有首字母缩写NLR，这反映了它们特定的蛋白质结构域集。NLR对病原体分子的识别导致成功的免疫应答，从而阻止病原体生长。100多年来，植物育种者一直在不知不觉中操纵NLR，我们所有的作物都依赖于他们的NLR来保护它们免受微生物病原体的侵害。然而，由于微生物的世代时间非常短，而农作物的生长速度非常慢，微生物的进化速度更快，它们可以逃避植物育种者的缓慢工作，以预测疾病将如何出现。研究人员研究了NLR蛋白被激活的确切机制，以及这种激活的后果。他们的工作使用基因组学，遗传学，生物化学和细胞生物学来了解这些重要的蛋白质如何工作。他们的研究将带来更好的工具，用于设计更有效的植物免疫受体和反应，以保护我们的粮食安全。同样，动物NLR受体对海胆和人类等不同宿主中的微生物信号作出反应。因此，拟议研究项目的最广泛影响将为作物物种和人类健康提供重要信息。

Plants are fertile sources of nutrients for a variety of microbes. Many of these reduce plant fitness and productivity, and hence are pathogens. Plant pathogens devastate crops, particularly in developing areas where expensive (and often unsustainable) fungicides and pesticides are beyond the economic reach of most farmers. Yield losses due to plant disease are also 'water losses', since that resource is often invested before disease decimates a crop. Hence, successfully combating plant diseases through rational deployment of the plant immune system will contribute directly to human and environmental health, and save lots of fresh water. The plant immune system uses a family of proteins to recognize the proteins of invasive microbes. The key plant proteins are called 'disease resistance receptors' and have the acronym NLR, which reflects their particular set of protein domains. Recognition of pathogen molecules by NLRs results in a successful immune response that halts pathogen growth. Plant breeders have unknowingly manipulated NLRs for over 100 years, and all of our crop plants rely on their set of NLRs to protect them from microbial pathogens. However, because the generation times of microbes are very short, and crops by contrast very slow, microbes evolve faster and they can evade the slow work of plant breeders to anticipate how diseases will emerge. The investigators study the precise mechanisms by which NLR proteins are activated, and the consequences of that activation. Their work uses genomics, genetics, biochemistry and cell biology to understand how these important proteins work. Their research will lead to better tools with which to design more efficient plant immune receptors and responses to protect our food security. Similarly, animal NLR receptors respond to microbial signals in hosts as diverse as sea urchins and humans. Hence, the broadest impacts of the proposed research project will significantly inform translation to crop species and to human health.