课题组发现植物NLR MLA3 （Mildew locthem a 3）已经进化到可以识别病原体效应物，作为效应物毒力靶点的分子模拟物，从而引发免疫反应。通过将模拟物的结合界面引入小麦茎秆抗病性蛋白SR50中，研究人员对一个具有双重识别活性的嵌合受体进行了生物工程改造，使大麦转基因品系能够抵抗两种主要的谷物病原体。这些结果表明，免疫受体的分子模仿可以用来设计多种疾病抗性。
据介绍，植物和动物通过建立先天免疫反应来应对病原体的攻击，这种免疫反应需要细胞内核苷酸结合的富含亮氨酸的重复序列（NLR）蛋白。这些免疫受体通过感知毒力效应蛋白来检测病原体感染。然而，受体如何进化出新的识别特异性仍然知之甚少。
附：英文原文
Title: Molecular mimicry of a pathogen virulence target by a plant immune receptor
Author: Diana Gómez De La Cruz, Thomas Ingram, Rafa Zdrzaek, Jodie Taylor, Aleksandra Wawryk-Khamdavong, Kinga Bachowska, Mark J. Banfield, Nicholas J. Talbot, Matthew J. Moscou
Issue&Volume: 2026-06-04
Abstract: Plants and animals respond to pathogen attack by mounting innate immune responses that require intracellular nucleotide-binding leucine-rich repeat (NLR) proteins. These immune receptors detect pathogen infection by sensing virulence effector proteins. However, how receptors evolve new recognition specificities remains poorly understood. We found that the plant NLR MLA3 (Mildew locus a 3) has evolved to recognize a pathogen effector by acting as a molecular mimic of an effector virulence target, thereby triggering an immune response. By introducing the mimic’s binding interface into the wheat stem rust resistance protein SR50, we bioengineered a chimeric receptor with dual recognition activities that conferred resistance to two major cereal pathogens in barley transgenic lines. These results demonstrate that molecular mimicry by immune receptors can be harnessed to engineer multiple disease resistance.
DOI: aef9946
Source: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aef9946