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Poster

Session: Session 1 Presenting Authors at Posters (Odds)

P-083 - Structural basis for size-selective perception of chitin in plants

Monday, July 14, 2025
13:30 - 15:15  
Location: Confex Hall 3
Extracellular & Intracellular non-self recognition & signaling

    Presenting Author(s)

  • KG

    Kira Gysel

    Assistant Professor
    Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Aarhus University
    Aarhus, Midtjylland, Denmark

    • Author(s)

  • SH

    Simon B. Hansen

    Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Aarhus University
    Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland

  • HR

    Henriette Rübsam

    Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Aarhus University
    Aarhus C, Midtjylland, Denmark

  • HA

    Husam Alsarraf

    Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Aarhus University
    Aarhus C, Midtjylland, Denmark

  • EM

    Eva Madland

    Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Aarhus University
    Aarhus C, Midtjylland, Denmark

  • CB

    Caroline Baadegaard

    Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Aarhus University
    Aarhus C, Midtjylland, Denmark

  • EP

    Emil Poulsen

    Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Aarhus University
    Aarhus C, Midtjylland, Denmark

  • MV

    Maria Vinther

    Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Aarhus University
    Aarhus, Midtjylland, Denmark

  • SF

    Sébastien Fort

    Univ. Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, CERMAV
    Grenoble, Rhone-Alpes, France

  • JS

    Jens Stougaard

    Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Aarhus University
    Aarhus, Midtjylland, Denmark

  • KA

    Kasper Andersen

    Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Aarhus University
    Aarhus, Midtjylland, Denmark

Plants rely on innate pattern recognition receptors to detect microbe-associated molecular patterns (MAMPs) and activate immunity. This study elucidates the molecular mechanisms for the specific recognition of long-chain chitin oligomers (e.g. chitooctaose), a major MAMP found in the fungal cell wall. In the legumes Lotus japonicus and Medicago truncatula, perception of these immunogenic long-chain chitin oligomers is facilitated by the LysM receptor kinases LYS13/CERK6 and LYR4/CERK1, respectively. We combine structural biology, quantitative ligand binding assays, biochemistry, and functional data to provide a thorough understanding of how LYS13- and CERK-type receptors function in concert to induce immune signaling in plants. In addition, we use specific nanobodies to directly modulate plant immunity, probing receptor binding sites and ligand-induced complex formation. Key results include the identification of detailed mechanisms for size-selective, high-affinity long chitin oligomer binding by LYS13-type receptors, as well as the characterization of the CERK-type receptors as low-affinity co-receptors. We present a mechanistic model for LysM receptor kinase assembly into a signaling-competent receptor complex upon chitin perception, where the high-affinity pseudokinase LYS13 recruits the low-affinity active kinase CERK6 via a ligand-induced mechanism.