Overexpression of CRK13, an Arabidopsis cysteine-rich receptor-like kinase, results in enhanced resistance to Pseudomonas syringae

doi:10.1111/j.1365-313X.2007.03064.x

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Wiley InterScience

The Plant Journal

Volume 50 Issue 3, Pages 488 - 499

Published Online: 5 Apr 2007

Published in association with the Society for Experimental Biology

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Overexpression of CRK13, an Arabidopsis cysteine-rich receptor-like kinase, results in enhanced resistance to Pseudomonas syringae

Biswa R. Acharya ¹ , Surabhi Raina ¹ , Shahina B. Maqbool ¹ , Guru Jagadeeswaran ¹ , Stephen L Mosher ² , Heidi M. Appel ³ , Jack C. Schultz ³ , Daniel F. Klessig ² and Ramesh Raina ^1,*

¹ Department of Biology, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY 13244, USA ,
² Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research, Tower Road, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA, and
³ Department of Entomology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA

Correspondence to *(fax +1 315 443 2012; e-mail raraina@syr.edu).

KEYWORDS

cysteine-rich receptor-like kinase • salicylic acid • pathogen defense • Arabidopsis • signaling • cell death

ABSTRACT

Protein kinases play important roles in relaying information from perception of a signal to the effector genes in all organisms. Cysteine-rich receptor-like kinases (CRKs) constitute a sub-family of plant receptor-like kinases (RLKs) with more than 40 members that contain the novel C-X8-C-X2-C motif (DUF26) in the extracellular domains. Here we report molecular characterization of one member of this gene family, CRK13. Expression of this gene is induced more quickly and strongly in response to the avirulent compared with the virulent strains of Pseudomonas syringae, and peaks within 4 h after pathogen infection. In response to dexamethasone (DEX) treatment, plants expressing the CRK13 gene from a DEX-inducible promoter exhibited all tested features of pathogen defense activation, including rapid tissue collapse, accumulation of high levels of several defense-related gene transcripts including PR1, PR5 and ICS1, and accumulation of salicylic acid (SA). In addition, these plants suppressed growth of virulent pathogens by about 20-fold compared with the wild-type Col-0. CRK13-conferred pathogen resistance is salicylic acid-dependent. Gene expression analysis using custom cDNA microarrays revealed a remarkable overlap between the expression profiles of the plants overexpressing CRK13 and the plants treated with Pst DC3000 (avrRpm1). Our studies suggest that upregulation of CRK13 leads to hypersensitive response-associated cell death, and induces defense against pathogens by causing increased accumulation of salicylic acid.