Abstract
Rho proteins of plants (ROPs) form a specific clade of Rho GTPases, which are involved in either plant immunity or susceptibility to diseases. They are intensively studied in grass host plants, in which ROPs are signaling hubs downstream of both cell surface immune receptor kinases and intracellular nucleotide-binding leucine-rich repeat receptors, which activate major branches of plant immune signaling. Additionally, invasive fungal pathogens may co-opt the function of ROPs for manipulation of the cytoskeleton, cell invasion and host cell developmental reprogramming, which promote pathogenic colonization. Strikingly, mammalian bacterial pathogens also initiate both effector-triggered susceptibility for cell invasion and effector-triggered immunity via Rho GTPases. In this review, we summarize central concepts of Rho signaling in disease and immunity of plants and briefly compare them to important findings in the mammalian research field. We focus on Rho activation, downstream signaling and cellular reorganization under control of Rho proteins involved in disease progression and pathogen resistance.
Highlights
A multitude of essential cellular processes in eukaryotic organisms such as cell polarization, vesicle trafficking and cytoskeleton organization are regulated by small GTPases or G-proteins
We focus on Rho activation, downstream signaling and cellular reorganization under control of Rho proteins involved in disease progression and pathogen resistance
Due to their high guanine nucleotide binding affinity, G-proteins are molecular switches which can circle between an inactive, GDP-bound state and the active, GTP-bound conformation [1], the latter allowing direct interaction with downstream signaling executors (G-protein downstream effectors are referred to as executors here to distinguish them from pathogen virulence effectors)
Summary
A multitude of essential cellular processes in eukaryotic organisms such as cell polarization, vesicle trafficking and cytoskeleton organization are regulated by small GTPases or G-proteins. Due to their high guanine nucleotide binding affinity, G-proteins are molecular switches which can circle between an inactive, GDP-bound state and the active, GTP-bound conformation [1], the latter allowing direct interaction with downstream signaling executors (G-protein downstream effectors are referred to as executors here to distinguish them from pathogen virulence effectors). Rat sarcoma (RAS) proteins are absent from plants, whereas Rho proteins of plants (ROPs) build an exclusive class of Rho family GTPases in plants.
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