A Secreted MIF Cytokine Enables Aphid Feeding and Represses Plant Immune Responses.

Aphids attack virtually all plant species and cause serious crop damages in agriculture. Despite their dramatic impact on food production, little is known about the molecular processes that allow aphids to exploit their host plants. To date, few aphid salivary proteins have been identified that are essential for aphid feeding, and their nature and function remain largely unknown. Here, we show that a macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) is secreted in aphid saliva. In vertebrates, MIFs are important pro-inflammatory cytokines regulating immune responses. MIF proteins are also secreted by parasites of vertebrates, including nematodes, ticks, and protozoa, and participate in the modulation of host immune responses. The finding that a plant parasite secretes a MIF protein prompted us to question the role of the cytokine in the plant-aphid interaction. We show here that expression of MIF genes is crucial for aphid survival, fecundity, and feeding on a host plant. The ectopic expression of aphid MIFs in leaf tissues inhibits major plant immune responses, such as the expression of defense-related genes, callose deposition, and hypersensitive cell death. Functional complementation analyses in vivo allowed demonstrating that MIF1 is the member of the MIF protein family that allows aphids to exploit their host plants. To our knowledge, this is the first report of a cytokine that is secreted by a parasite to modulate plant immune responses. Our findings suggest a so-far unsuspected conservation of infection strategies among parasites of animal and plant species.

The Phytophthora parasitica RXLR effector penetration-specific effector 1 favours Arabidopsis thaliana infection by interfering with auxin physiology.

Pathogenic oomycetes have evolved RXLR effectors to thwart plant defense mechanisms and invade host tissues. We analysed the function of one of these effectors (Penetration-Specific Effector 1 (PSE1)) whose transcript is transiently accumulated during penetration of host roots by the oomycete Phytophthora parasitica. Expression of PSE1 protein in tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum and Nicotiana benthamiana) leaves and in Arabidopsis thaliana plants was used to assess the role of this effector in plant physiology and in interactions with pathogens. A pharmacological approach and marker lines were used to charcterize the A. thaliana phenotypes. Expression of PSE1 in A. thaliana led to developmental perturbations associated with low concentrations of auxin at the root apex. This modification of auxin content was associated with an altered distribution of the PIN4 and PIN7 auxin efflux carriers. The PSE1 protein facilitated plant infection: it suppressed plant cell death activated by Pseudomonas syringae avirulence gene AvrPto and Phytophthora cryptogea elicitin cryptogein in tobacco and exacerbated disease symptoms upon inoculation of transgenic A. thaliana plantlets with P. parasitica in an auxin-dependant manner. We propose that P. parasitica secretes the PSE1 protein during the penetration process to favour the infection by locally modulating the auxin content. These results support the hypothesis that effectors from plant pathogens may act on a limited set of targets, including hormones.