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Poster

Session: Session 1 Presenting Authors at Posters (Odds)

P-227 - A bacterial antiviral protein conserved in plants is involved in plant-geminivirus interaction

Monday, July 14, 2025
13:30 - 15:15  
Location: Confex Hall 3
Plant-virus Interactions (incl. Viromes, Evolution & Vectors)

    Presenting Author(s)

  • EL

    Eirik Lageide (he/him/his)

    Doctoral Researcher
    Max Planck Institute for Biology
    Tuebingen, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany

    • Author(s)

  • HP

    Helena Pfingst

    Max Planck Institute for Biology
    Tübingen, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany

  • LB

    Lukas Burkhardt

    Max Planck Institute for Biology
    Tübingen, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany

  • DW

    Detlef Weigel

    Max Planck Institute for Biology
    Tübingen, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany

  • GO

    Gal Ofir

    Max Planck Institute for Biology
    Tübingen, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany

Recent expansions in the known number of prokaryotic defense systems and more sensitive homology detection methods have revealed conserved protein modules involved in immunity across both eukaryotes and prokaryotes. Emerging evidence shows that homology to prokaryotic antiphage systems can be used to discover eukaryotic proteins with antiviral activity. In this study, we asked if we could identify plant homologs of novel prokaryotic immune systems. We identified that the plant NO-VEIN (NOV) protein shares a strikingly similar domain composition to the antiphage system Tiamat. To test if the structural conservation of this system also confers conserved antiviral activity, we transiently knocked down nov in Nicotiana benthamiana and showed that this increases the accumulation of certain geminiviruses. This indicates that NOV may be involved in antiviral immunity in plants. Deletion of NOV in Arabidopsis thaliana leads to embryonic lethality, highlighting its previously reported essentiality for development and suggests an evolutionary connection between immunity and development. We next aim to determine the biochemical mechanism of NOVs involvement in viral interactions. Our findings identify conservation of a prokaryotic immune protein in plants and other eukaryotes, and suggest that Tiamat’s ancestral antiviral activity is conserved in plants.