GRP-3 and KAPP, encoding interactors of WAK1, negatively affect defense responses induced by oligogalacturonides and local response to wounding

Abstract

Conserved microbe-associated molecular patterns (MAMPs) and damage-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs) act as danger signals to activate the plant immune response. These molecules are recognized by surface receptors that are referred to as pattern recognition receptors. Oligogalacturonides (OGs), DAMPs released from the plant cell wall homogalacturonan, have also been proposed to act as local signals in the response to wounding. The Arabidopsis Wall-Associated Kinase 1 (WAK1), a receptor of OGs, has been described to form a complex with a cytoplasmic plasma membrane-localized kinase-associated protein phosphatase (KAPP) and a glycine-rich protein (GRP-3) that we find localized mainly in the cell wall and, in a small part, on the plasma membrane. By using Arabidopsis plants overexpressing WAK1, and both grp-3 and kapp null insertional mutant and overexpressing plants, we demonstrate a positive function of WAK1 and a negative function of GRP-3 and KAPP in the OG-triggered expression of defence genes and the production of an oxidative burst. The three proteins also affect the local response to wounding and the basal resistance against the necrotrophic pathogen Botrytis cinerea. GRP-3 and KAPP are likely to function in the phasing out of the plant immune response.

Keywords: Arabidopsis thaliana; GRP-3; KAPP; Wall-associated kinase; oligogalacturonides; oxidative burst; pathogen resistance; wounding..