Work by Mickaël Blaise contained in a publication in Science

The discrimination between the nodulation factor (friend) and chitin (foe) by legumes is ensured by a family of receptors called LysM-RLK.

The extracellular domain of these receptors recognizes the signal molecule while the transmembrane and kinase domains provide the signaling cascade leading either to symbiosis or immune defense. In this study, published in Science, the authors by combining structural biology, biochemistry and genetic approaches, deciphered the molecular bases of the specificity of ligands recognition of LysM-RLK-type receptors. These discoveries could have agronomic applications; it seems possible by engineering the plant to change the defense receptors of non-symbiotic plants such as cereals into receptors recognizing symbiotic bacteria.

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