Shapeshifting: how is plant ER architecture manipulated by pathogen effectors?

预计到2050年，世界人口将达到97亿，而目前为79亿。随着气候变化带来的额外挑战，需要从不断减少的自然资源中生产更多的粮食。英国45%的粮食依赖进口，因此未来的粮食安全既是一个全球性问题，也是一个迫切需要解决的国家问题。一个关键的方法是减少食物链中的浪费。全球17 - 30%的农作物在收获前和收获后都因病虫害而损失。因此，最大的挑战是培育对植物病原体（致病微生物）具有增强的耐受性的作物，但关键是不会对产量产生不利影响。内质网（ER）是存在于每个植物细胞中的主要蛋白质和脂质工厂。它形成了一个网状的膜管和膜层网络，延伸到整个细胞和附近的细胞之间，并不断重塑和重组，以满足细胞对蛋白质不断变化的需求。我们最近发现，当有害的细菌病原体感染植物叶片时，它会导致植物ER的戏剧性和快速重组，这似乎削弱了ER参与细胞防御的能力，因此有助于病原体入侵。我们的项目将精确地确定病原体产生的特定分子（称为“效应子”）如何重塑ER结构，以及哪些特定效应子参与这一过程。我们的目标是利用这些信息，以及我们在过去10年中生产和研究的ER成形蛋白的工具包，将植物的ER重新设计成更适合抵御病原体攻击的定制形式。成功将对减少作物损失，从而提高我们的粮食安全产生重大影响。

The world population is predicted to reach 9.7 billion by 2050, compared to today's 7.9 billion. More food needs to be produced from ever-dwindling natural resources with the additional challenges arising from climate change. The UK imports 45% of all its food and so future food security is both a global and a national issue that needs urgently addressing. One key approach is to reduce waste in the food chain. Between 17-30% of global crops are lost to pests and disease both pre- and post-harvest. The big challenge is therefore to breed crops with enhanced tolerance to plant pathogens (disease-causing microorganisms) but, crucially, without adversely compromising yield.The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is a major protein and lipid factory present in every plant cell. It forms a mesh-like network of membrane tubules and sheets, which extends throughout the cell and between nearby cells and is constantly reshaping and reorganising to meet the cells' changing demand for proteins. We have recently discovered that when a harmful bacterial pathogen infects plant leaves, it causes a dramatic and rapid reorganisation of the plant ER, which seems to weaken the ER's capacity to participate in the cellular defence and therefore helps the pathogen invade. Our project will establish precisely how particular molecules produced by the pathogen, called 'effectors', remodel the ER architecture, and which specific effectors participate in this process. We aim to use this information, together with a toolkit of ER-shaping proteins that we have produced and studied over the last 10 years, in order to re-engineer the plant's ER into a bespoke form that is better suited to withstand pathogen attack. Success will represent a substantial impact on reducing crop losses and thus increasing our food security.