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Oomycetes are devastating filamentous pathogens that impact ecosystems and agriculture. Our research aims at characterizing the molecular mechanisms that govern the establishment of disease in host plants. To sense the environment, plant cells possess more than 200 plasma membrane-spanning receptors, which are composed of extracellular leucine-rich repeats (LRRs) and an intracellular kinase domain. We previously identified the Arabidopsis receptor-like kinase "Impaired Oomycete Susceptibility 1" (IOS1), which downregulates abscisic acid (ABA) signaling and contributes to the infection success of filamentous, biotrophic pathogens such as oomycetes and the powdery mildew fungus (Hok et al., 2011; Hok et al., 2014). The extracellular region of IOS1 is composed of LRRs and a domain, which shares similarities with malectin from animals. Animal malectins bind carbohydrates and participate in monitoring proper folding of glycoproteins in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). We observed retention of IOS1 in the ER, which appears to be mediated through the malectin-like (ML) domain. Yeast two-hybrid screens with the extracellular IOS1 domain identified an ER-localized protein. I will present and discuss results from this analysis.

Hok et al. (2014). Plant Physiol. 166, 1506-1518.

Hok et al. (2011). Plant Cell Environ. 34, 1944-1957.