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Scientific article
English

A massive expansion of effector genes underlies gall-formation in the wheat pest Mayetiola destructor

Contributors

Zhao, Chaoyang

Collaborators

Waterhouse, Robert; Ioannidis, Panagiotis; Zdobnov, Evgeny

Published in

Current biology, vol. 25, no. 5, p. 613-620

Publication date

2015

Abstract

Gall-forming arthropods are highly specialized herbivores that, in combination with their hosts, produce extended phenotypes with unique morphologies [1]. Many are economically important, and others have improved our understanding of ecology and adaptive radiation [2]. However, the mechanisms that these arthropods use to induce plant galls are poorly understood. We sequenced the genome of the Hessian fly (Mayetiola destructor; Diptera: Cecidomyiidae), a plant parasitic gall midge and a pest of wheat (Triticum spp.), with the aim of identifying genic modifications that contribute to its plant-parasitic lifestyle. Among several adaptive modifications, we discovered an expansive reservoir of potential effector proteins. Nearly 5% of the 20,163 predicted gene models matched putative effector gene transcripts present in the M. destructor larval salivary gland. Another 466 putative effectors were discovered among the genes that have no sequence similarities in other organisms. The largest known arthropod gene family (family SSGP-71) was also discovered within the effector reservoir. SSGP-71 proteins lack sequence homologies to other proteins, but their structures resemble both ubiquitin E3 ligases in plants and E3-ligase-mimicking effectors in plant pathogenic bacteria. SSGP-71 proteins and wheat Skp proteins interact in vivo. Mutations in different SSGP-71 genes avoid the effector-triggered immunity that is directed by the wheat resistance genes H6 and H9. Results point to effectors as the agents responsible for arthropod-induced plant gall formation.

UNIGE affiliation entities

UNIGE research groups

Citation (ISO format)

ZHAO, Chaoyang. A massive expansion of effector genes underlies gall-formation in the wheat pest Mayetiola destructor. In: Current biology, 2015, vol. 25, n° 5, p. 613–620. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2014.12.057

Main files (1)

Article (Published version)

Identifiers

Additional URL for this publication

http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0960982214016959

Journal ISSN

0960-9822
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1downloads

Technical informations

Creation

02/12/2015 13:54:00

First validation

02/12/2015 13:54:00

Update

13/10/2025 21:08:30

Status update

14/03/2023 23:57:35

Last indexation

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