Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 8, 2026

Functional Characterization of RING-Type E3 Ubiquitin Ligases In Vitro and In Planta
Published on: December 5, 2019
A root-knot nematode secretory peptide functions as a ligand for a plant transcription factor
Guozhong Huang1, Ruihua Dong, Rex Allen
1Department of Plant Pathology, University of Georgia, Athens 30602-7274, USA.
Abstract:
Parasitism genes expressed in the esophageal gland cells of root-knot nematodes encode proteins that are secreted into host root cells to transform the recipient cells into enlarged multinucleate feeding cells called giant-cells. Expression of a root-knot nematode parasitism gene which encodes a novel 13-amino-acid secretory peptide in plant tissues stimulated root growth. Two SCARECROW-like transcription factors of the GRAS protein family were identified as the putative targets for this bioactive nematode peptide in yeast two-hybrid analyses and confirmed by in vitro and in vivo coimmunoprecipitations. This discovery is the first demonstration of a direct interaction of a nematode-secreted parasitism peptide with a plant-regulatory protein, which may represent an early signaling event in the root-knot nematode-host interaction.
Related Concept Videos
Cell Signaling in Plants
Microbe-Plant Interactions
The Roles of Bacteria and Fungi in Plant Nutrition
Regulation of Nuclear Protein Sorting
Riboswitches
The aptamer has high specificity for a particular metabolite which allows riboswitches to specifically regulate...
Notch Signaling Pathway
The Notch gene came into the limelight in 1914 after the discovery that its mutation in Drosophila melanogaster leads to a serrated (or "notched") wing margin phenotype. It was not until 1985...

