Substrate-induced condensation activates plant TIR domain proteins

Abstract

Plant nucleotide-binding leucine-rich repeat (NLR) immune receptors with an N-terminal Toll/interleukin-1 receptor (TIR) domain mediate recognition of strain-specific pathogen effectors, typically via their C-terminal ligand-sensing domains¹. Effector binding enables TIR-encoded enzymatic activities that are required for TIR-NLR (TNL)-mediated immunity^2,3. Many truncated TNL proteins lack effector-sensing domains but retain similar enzymatic and immune activities^4,5. The mechanism underlying the activation of these TIR domain proteins remain unclear. Here we show that binding of the TIR substrates NAD⁺ and ATP induces phase separation of TIR domain proteins in vitro. A similar condensation occurs with a TIR domain protein expressed via its native promoter in response to pathogen inoculation in planta. The formation of TIR condensates is mediated by conserved self-association interfaces and a predicted intrinsically disordered loop region of TIRs. Mutations that disrupt TIR condensates impair the cell death activity of TIR domain proteins. Our data reveal phase separation as a mechanism for the activation of TIR domain proteins and provide insight into substrate-induced autonomous activation of TIR signalling to confer plant immunity.