Regulation of plant immunity through ubiquitin‐mediated modulation of Ca²⁺–calmodulin–<scp>A</scp>t<scp>SR</scp>1/<scp>CAMTA</scp>3 signaling

Abstract

Transient changes in intracellular Ca(2+) concentration are essential signals for activation of plant immunity. It has also been reported that Ca(2+) signals suppress salicylic acid-mediated plant defense through AtSR1/CAMTA3, a member of the Ca(2+) /calmodulin-regulated transcription factor family that is conserved in multicellular eukaryotes. How plants overcome this negative regulation to mount an effective defense response during a stage of intracellular Ca(2+) surge is unclear. Here we report the identification and functional characterization of an important component of ubiquitin ligase, and the associated AtSR1 turnover. The AtSR1 interaction protein 1 (SR1IP1) was identified by CytoTrap two-hybrid screening. The loss-of-function mutant of SR1IP1 is more susceptible to bacterial pathogens, and over-expression of SR1IP1 confers enhanced resistance, indicating that SR1IP1 acts as a positive regulator of plant defense. SR1IP1 and AtSR1 act in the same signaling pathway to regulate plant immunity. SR1IP1 contains the structural features of a substrate adaptor in cullin 3-based E3 ubiquitin ligase, and was shown to serve as a substrate adaptor that recruits AtSR1 for ubiquitination and degradation when plants are challenged with pathogens. Hence, SR1IP1 positively regulates plant immunity by removing the defense suppressor AtSR1. These findings provide a mechanistic insight into how Ca(2+) -mediated actions are coordinated to achieve effective plant immunity.