ANALYSIS AND ENGINEERING OF PLANT IMMUNE RECEPTORS

The plant immune system primarily relies on leucine-rich repeat (LRR) proteins for pathogen recognition.Despite the great agricultural importance in understanding the molecular basis of pathogen recognition mediated by these LRR proteins, very few of these interactions have been characterized in detail due in large part to the difficulty in isolating or recombinantly producing plant LRR proteins in sufficient quantities for detailed biochemical and biophysical analyses. Here, we propose a high-risk, high-reward strategy to overcome these limitations through the use of a cell-free protein engineering platform for two purposes: 1) to map the binding paratopes of LRR proteins to their cognate ligands and 2) to reengineer LRR proteins to respond to non-native ligands. If successful, this approach will not only facilitate high-throughput characterization of plant immune receptors but it will also enable rapid ex vivo mimicry of an adaptive immune system which would help crops keep pace with rapidly evolving pathogens.