Plants send small RNAs in extracellular vesicles to fungal pathogen to silence virulence genes
Qiang Cai, Lulu Qiao, Ming Wang, Baoye He, Feng‐Mao Lin, Jared Palmquist, Sienna-Da Huang, Hailing Jin
Abstract
Defense cargo shuttles in vesicles Plants can use small RNAs (sRNAs) to interfere with virulence factor gene expression in pathogens. Cai et al. show that the small mustard plant Arabidopsis shuttles defensive sRNAs into the necrotrophic fungus Botrytis cinerea via extracellular vesicles (see the Perspective by Thomma and Cook). The vesicles are associated with tetraspanin proteins, which can interact and form membrane microdomains. Several dozen different sRNAs targeting the pathogenic process were transported from Arabidopsis to B. cinerea in a selective manner. Science , this issue p. 1126 ; see also p. 1070
Topics & Concepts
ArabidopsisBiologyVirulenceBotrytis cinereaGeneVesicleCell biologyFungusTetraspaninGene expressionVirulence factorExtracellularMicrobiologyBotanyMutantGeneticsCellMembranePlant and Fungal Interactions ResearchPlant Reproductive BiologyPlant pathogens and resistance mechanisms