A single wheat protein blocks viruses from spreading between plant cells
Yang J, Gao K, Jin X, Zhao X, Zhu C
Crop Improvement
The virus fighting off your tomato plants and the disease resistance bred into your bread wheat may soon owe a debt to a single gatekeeper protein that plugs the tiny doorways viruses use to hop between plant cells.
Plant cells are connected by microscopic channels called plasmodesmata that let nutrients pass through, but viruses hijack these same channels to spread through the whole plant. Researchers discovered a protein named COBL3 that acts like a security guard, triggering a plug made of a sugar called callose to seal these channels when a virus tries to sneak through. Wheat and tobacco plants with more of this protein resisted several different virus families, and the virus itself fights back by trying to jam the security system, suggesting COBL3 could be a target for breeding hardier, virus-resistant crops.
Key Findings
TaCOBL3 in wheat interacts directly with the 17K movement protein of barley yellow dwarf virus and co-locates with it at plasmodesmata
TaCOBL3 works together with the PDLP5 protein to boost callose accumulation and reduce plasmodesmata permeability, blocking virus movement
Silencing the tobacco version of COBL3 (NbCOBL3) reduced callose levels and weakened defense against two tobraviruses, one potexvirus, and one hordeivirus, showing broad-spectrum protection
chevron_right Technical Summary
Scientists found a plant protein called COBL3 that helps wheat and tobacco plants seal off the microscopic channels viruses use to spread, offering a new way to breed crops resistant to multiple viral diseases at once.
Abstract Preview
Original paper
A conserved COBL3-like protein promotes PDLP5-dependent callose accumulation to confer broad-spectrum plasmodesmata-mediated antiviral defense.
Plasmodesmata (PD) play vital roles in plant growth and defense through controlling symplastic transport of important molecules. Here we report that a conserved COBRA-like protein, COBL3, is requir...
open_in_new Read full abstractAbstract copyright held by the original publisher.
Was this useful?
Want to tell us more? (optional)
Thanks for the note!
Something went wrong — please try again.
Too many submissions. Try again in an hour.
Gene editing removes 97% of celiac-triggering proteins from bread wheat
It could mean that people with celiac disease — roughly 1 in 100 worldwide — may one day safely eat bread made from real wheat, without sacrificing the taste...
Wheat is a group of wild and domesticated grasses of the genus Triticum. As cereals, they are cultivated for their grains, which are staple foods around the world. Well-known wheat species and hybrids include the most widely grown common wheat, spelt, durum, emmer, einkorn, and Khorasan or Kamut....