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Poster

Session: Session 2 Presenting Authors at Posters (Evens)

P-426 - TIR-NLRs as Dual Regulators of Plant Immunity and Symbiosis

Thursday, July 17, 2025
13:30 - 15:15  
Location: Confex Hall 3
Plant Regulation of biotic and abiotic stress – trade-offs

    Presenting Author(s)

  • TT

    Tim Thomsen

    PhD student
    University of Cologne
    Cologne, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany

    • Author(s)

  • AZ

    Alga Zuccaro (she/her/hers)

    Institute for Plant Sciences, University of Cologne, The Cluster of Excellence on Plant Sciences (CEPLAS)
    Köln, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany

TIR-NLRs represent a highly expanded class of intracellular immune receptors in dicotyledonous plants, best known for their role in detecting pathogen-derived effectors and initiating effector-triggered immunity (ETI). Upon effector recognition, TIR-NLRs activate immune responses, including localized cell death through the TIR-domain-mediated production of small signaling molecules such as cyclic ADPR, and via activation of EDS1 heterodimers, which together contribute to limiting pathogen spread. While their role in pathogen defense is well established, emerging evidence indicates that TIR-NLRs also contribute to abiotic stress adaptation. Beyond their known functions in leaves, our findings reveal that VICTR, a TIR-NLR previously implicated in osmotic stress responses, also modulates the colonization of the beneficial root endophyte Serendipita indica. This highlights a previously underexplored facet of TIR-NLR functionality - suggesting they are involved not only in resistance to pathogens, but also in the modulation of beneficial plant-microbe interactions. The multifaceted roles of TIR-NLRs in immunity, symbiosis, and abiotic stress responses likely reflect an evolutionary trade-off, requiring a finely tuned balance between immune activation, microbial accommodation, and environmental adaptation. We aim to investigate how the presence or absence of specific TIR-NLRs shapes microbial recruitment, alters microbiome composition, and ultimately affects host phenotype.