The bacterial effector HopZ1a acetylates MKK7 to suppress plant immunity

What is it about?

Plants are under constant attack from several kind of pathogens, including bacteria. Plants have at their disposal several layers of local defence, triggered at the site of infection upon detection of the invading pathogen, and also systemic defences preventing new infections in distal parts of the plant. Pathogenic bacteria suppress plant defences using virulence-dedicated proteins (effectors) that interfere with defence signalling. Here we characterise the ability of effector HopZ1a to suppress both local and systemic plant defences through its interference with a single plant protein target, the MKK7 kinase.

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