Skip to main content
APS Plant Health 2025 Main banner
Icon Legend
This session is not in your schedule.
This session is in your schedule. Click again to remove it.

POSTERS: Molecular/Cellular Plant‐Microbe Interactions I

P-383 - Investigating the missing link: Characterisation of the Zymoseptoria tritici Mg3LysM effector protein

Monday, August 4, 2025
4:30 PM - 5:15 PM HST
Location: Exhibit Hall 3
Abstract Text: Septoria leaf blotch is a common wheat disease caused by the fungus Zymoseptoria tritici. This pathogen constitutes a major economic threat for global wheat production. Infection begins with a symptomless phase followed by aggressive necrotrophy, which obstructs photosynthesis and reduces yield. Concealment of Z. tritici during the symptomless phase is attributed to the pathogen’s three LysM effector proteins, which bind to fungal chitin, masking its presence and negating the plant immune response.  Mg1LysM and Mgx1LysM of Z. tritici, in addition to a sub-set of homologous LysM fungal proteins have been extensively characterised using biophysical and structural methods. However, Mg3LysM, the most significant Z. tritici LysM protein, remains largely unexplored, an important gap in our understanding of the diverse fungal infection processes. Efforts to heterologously express and purify Mg3LysM in bacterial and plant systems have been undertaken. The protein’s complex structure, post-translational modifications and insolubility posed significant barriers, but considerable optimisation of expression has been achieved. Protein structural analysis, biophysical activity assays using chitin oligomers and in vivo localisation studies to empirically demonstrate the precise Mg3LysM-chitin relationship are underway to uncover the protein’s precise mode of action.