Authors
Yuan Fang, Zhaoyun Wang, Wenjing Li, Ji Wu, Jing Chen, Qiutao Xu, Tom Hsiang, Xiaoyang Chen
Published in
Science advances. Volume 12. Issue 29. Pages eaef1021. Jul 17, 2026. Epub Jul 15, 2026.
Abstract
Rice (Oryza sativa) is highly susceptible to a variety of devastating fungal diseases. However, whether these phylogenetically distinct fungal pathogens employ conserved effectors to disrupt common immune hubs remains unclear. Here, we identify a conserved virulence strategy in which multiple rice-infecting fungal pathogens employ a subtilisin-like protease effector, SBT1, to suppress host immunity. Upon secretion into plant cells, SBT1 directly targets the key immune signaling component OsMAPKKKα and mediates its degradation in a proteolytic activity-dependent manner. OsMAPKKKα acts in a linear signaling cascade: it is phosphorylated and stabilized by OsRLCK185 at Thr493, and subsequently phosphorylates OsMKK4 to activate downstream MAPK signaling. By degrading OsMAPKKKα, SBT1 disrupts the chitin-triggered immune signaling transduced through the OsCERK1-OsRLCK185-OsMAPKKKα-OsMKK4 module. Importantly, host-induced gene silencing (HIGS) targeting SBT1 confers broad-spectrum resistance against multiple fungal pathogens. Our study unveils a previously unexplored pathogen strategy wherein a secreted effector protease dismantles a central signaling node, and identifies OsMAPKKKα as a promising target for engineering disease-resistant crops.
PMID:
42455924
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 16 Jul 2026.
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