🎉 Excited to share that our work is now published in PLOS Genetics @plos.org!
The helper NLR NRC3 evolved to evade inhibition by the cyst nematode effector SS15 over 19 million years ago.

Check out the peer-reviewed version of our preprint:
🔗 doi.org/10.1371/jour...

Thanks to AmirAli Toghani @amiralito.bsky.social, Raoul Frijters, Tolga Bozkurt @tolgaboz.bsky.social, Ryohei Terauchi, and Sophien Kamoun @kamounlab.bsky.social for their wonderful support and many other collaborators for their ideas and suggestions! (10/10)

We also checked the membrane spanning funnel-shaped structures in putative helpers. As expected, all putative helpers were predicted to form funnel shapes further supporting the structural models. (8/10)

Next, we applied AF3 to 10 rice NLR pairs described in a previous study. All five pairs with an integrated domain (ID) annotation produced higher pTM scores for the helper NLR, further supporting AF3's ability to distinguish between sensor and helper NLRs. (7/10)

Using the 50 oleic acids trick as a membrane proxy, helper NLRs consistently formed funnel-shaped structures contrasting with sensor NLRs. This indicates that AF3 can distinguish helpers from sensors. (6/10)

We started with AF3 modelling of 8 known NLR pairs, analyzing their oligomeric states. Interestingly, helper NLRs consistently showed higher confidence scores (pTM) than their sensors. (5/10)

Sensor NLRs often have unconventional integrated domains (IDs), which helper NLRs lack. But is there another way to distinguish paired NLRs? And can we differentiate sensor vs. helper NLRs in silico when neither one has an ID annotation? (3/10)

NLR immune receptors can be functionally organized into genetically linked pairs. The monocot paired NLRs, such as Pikm, Pia, and Pii, have evolved from distinct phylogenetic clades to function together as biochemically specialized sensors and helpers. (2/10)

Please check our latest paper on using @deep-mind.bsky.social AlphaFold 3 to study NLR immune receptors. Here we use AI-guided structural modelling to distinguish between sensor and helper NLRs! 👇🧵 (1/10) #EvoMPMI #NLRbiology #PlantPath #PlantSci
doi.org/10.1101/2024...