The grapevine LysM receptor-like kinase VvLYK5-1 mediates chitin-triggered immunity
Résumé
The establishment of defense reactions to protect plants against invading pathogens first requires
the recognition of Microbe-Associated Molecular Patterns (MAMPs), detected by plasma
membrane-bound Pattern Recognition Receptors (PRRs). These MAMPs, also termed elicitors, are
used in several biocontrol products that are gradually developing to reduce the use of chemical
pesticides in agriculture. Chitin, the main component of fungal cell walls, as well as its deacetylated
derivative, chitosan, are two chitooligosaccharides (COS) that can be found in some of these
products. Unfortunately, the mechanism allowing the perception of these molecules is still poorly
understood in Vitis vinifera, sometimes hampering the improvement and the generalization of
these emerging crop protection tools. On the contrary, chitin perception in the model plant
Arabidopsis thaliana is well described and relies on a tripartite complex formed by three
membrane-bound LysM Receptor-Like Kinases named AtLYK1/CERK1, AtLYK4 & AtLYK5, the
latter having the strongest affinity to chitin. In grapevine, COS perception has for the moment only
been demonstrated to rely on VvLYK1-1 & VvLYK1-2, two constitutively expressed genes that did
not specifically respond to pathogens according to genes expression analysis. In this context, we
performed experiments to complement the Arabidopsis lyk5 simple mutant and the lyk4/5 double
mutant, which showed altered response to COS, by overexpressing their grapevine orthologous
genes (VvLYK5-1/2). Our results revealed that MAPK activation and defense gene expression were
partially restored after chitin treatment by the complementation with VvLYK5-1 but not with
VvLYK5-2. These preliminary results seem to indicate that VvLYK5-1 participates in the chitin
recognition in grapevine, together with VvLYK1-1 previously identified. Furthermore, as the
perception of chitosan does not seem altered in the Atlyk5 mutant, it would also appear that the
perception of chitin and chitosan does not involve the same receptors. FRET-FLIM experiments
initiated with these co-receptors will soon provide additional information to better decipher the
mechanism of COS perception in grapevine