Crop production faces threats from plant pathogens. Traditional disease resistance breeding relies heavily on natural plant resistance genes that encode immune receptors adapted to specific pathogens. However, rapidly evolving pathogens often overcome these natural defenses, and the limited diversity of naturally occurring immune receptors complicates the development of durable resistant crops.
Now, a team led by Professor GAO Caixia from the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology (IGDB), Chinese Academy of Sciences, has developed a programmable platform for on-demand engineering of synthetic plant immune receptors (SPIRs) that recognize proteins from diverse plant pathogens.
This study was published online science July 23rd.
The immunoreceptor that is the focus of this study, the intracellular nucleotide-binding leucine-rich repeat receptor (NLR), primarily detects pathogens through large and highly repetitive leucine-rich repeat domains that are difficult to manipulate. To address this issue, researchers utilized a different class of NLRs that recognize pathogens through compact, modular, integrated decoy (ID) domains that can be easily replaced with newly designed pathogen recognition modules.
Researchers used AI-assisted protein tools such as AlphaFold 3 and BindCraft to Also A protein that specifically binds to pathogen proteins. We then incorporated these engineered proteins by replacing the native ID domain of the rice immune receptor Pikm-1 to generate SPIR with customized recognition specificity.
Using this pipeline, the researchers designed 391 SPIRs that target proteins from a wide range of plant pathogens, including viruses, bacteria, fungi, and oomycetes. Of these, 71 (18.2%) recognized the intended target and activated an immune response. This shows that AI helped. Also Protein design can generate functional plant immune receptors.
However, many of the remaining designs were automatic or inactive, demonstrating that AI-based design alone is not enough. To further improve the receptor’s performance, researchers turned to geminivirus replicon assistance. inside the factory They leveraged a previously established high-throughput platform, DirectedEvolution (GRAPE), and used it to optimize the newly designed SPIR. This optimization significantly enhanced immune activation and reduced unnecessary autoactivation. transgenic benthamiana tobacco Plants expressing the optimized SPIR showed effective resistance to: TOmato brown wrinkled fruit virus (ToBRFV) infection and highlighted the potential for crop improvement technology.
Unlike resistance breeding, which relies on naturally occurring resistance genes, the SPIR platform allows for the customized design of immune receptors that can recognize entirely new pathogen targets. In principle, SPIR targeting proteins of emerging pathogens could be generated within weeks, providing a rapid and versatile strategy to protect crops from evolving disease threats.
This study establishes a programmable plant synthetic immunity framework in which receptors can be designed, optimized, and deployed on demand. Programmable plant synthetic immunity could become a common strategy to develop the next generation of disease-resistant crops and enhance global food security.
sauce:
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Reference magazines:
Zhu, H. Others. (2026). Programmable design of synthetic plant immune receptors for pathogen protein recognition. science. DOI: 10.1126/science.aee1792. https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aee1792
