Dynamic regulation of Pep-induced immunity through post-translational control of defence transcript splicing

The survival of all living organisms requires the ability to detect attacks and swiftly counter them with protective immune responses. Despite considerable mechanistic advances, the interconnectivity of signalling modules often remains unclear. A newly characterized protein, IMMUNOREGULATORY RNA-BINDING PROTEIN (IRR), negatively regulates immune responses in both maize and Arabidopsis, with disrupted function resulting in enhanced disease resistance. IRR associates with and promotes canonical splicing of transcripts encoding defence signalling proteins, including the key negative regulator of pattern-recognition receptor signalling complexes, CALCIUM-DEPENDENT PROTEIN KINASE 28 (CPK28). On immune activation by Plant Elicitor Peptides (Peps), IRR is dephosphorylated, disrupting interaction with CPK28 transcripts and resulting in the accumulation of an alternative splice variant encoding a truncated CPK28 protein with impaired kinase activity and diminished function as a negative regulator. We demonstrate a new mechanism linking Pep-induced post-translational modification of IRR with post-transcriptionally mediated attenuation of CPK28 function to dynamically amplify Pep signalling and immune output.