2. Academic Validation
  3. A widespread plant defense compound disarms bacterial type III injectisome assembly

A widespread plant defense compound disarms bacterial type III injectisome assembly

  • Science. 2025 Feb 28;387(6737):eads0377. doi: 10.1126/science.ads0377.
Pei Miao # 1 2 3,  Haijun Wang # 4 5,  Wei Wang # 1,  Zhengdong Wang 6 7,  Han Ke 4,  Hangyuan Cheng 1 2,  Jinjing Ni 8,  Jingnan Liang 9,  Yu-Feng Yao 8,  Jizong Wang 7,  Jian-Min Zhou 1 2 3,  Xiaoguang Lei 4 6
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 State Key Laboratory of Plant Genomics, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
  • 2 College of Advanced Agricultural Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
  • 3 Yazhouwan National Laboratory, Sanya, China.
  • 4 Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, Key Laboratory of Bioorganic Chemistry and Molecular Engineering of Ministry of Education, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University, Beijing, China.
  • 5 School of Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China.
  • 6 Peking-Tsinghua Joint Center for Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China.
  • 7 State Key Laboratory of Protein and Plant Gene Research, School of Advanced Agricultural Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China.
  • 8 Laboratory of Bacterial Pathogenesis, Shanghai Institute of Immunology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.
  • 9 Core Facility, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
  • # Contributed equally.
PMID: 40014714 DOI: 10.1126/science.ads0377
Abstract

Numerous gram-negative Bacterial pathogens employ the type III secretion system (T3SS), a multiprotein injectisome, to deliver virulence proteins into host cells and cause diseases. We uncover erucamide as a previously unknown phytoalexin of both dicots and monocots that blocks the T3SS function of multiple Bacterial pathogens. Genetically impairing erucamide accumulation or exogenous application in Arabidopsis highlighted erucamide's role in Antibacterial immunity. Erucamide binds Hypersensitive response and conserved C (HrcC), a key T3SS component, to block injectisome assembly. Analyses of erucamide analogs and HrcC mutants indicated that the erucamide-HrcC binding is required for inhibiting T3SS in vitro and Antibacterial resistance in Plants, suggesting an essential role of erucamide-HrcC binding in disease resistance. This work reveals a plant chemical defense that targets major virulence machinery in Bacterial pathogens.

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