Li Wan’s publication appears in “Science”

Congratulations to current Dangl lab post-doc co-first author Li Wan (pictured), who along with former Dangl lab post-docs Ryan Anderson, Freddy Monteiro, and Eui Hwan Chung and co-corresponding Marc Nishimura published this week paper in Science titled ‘TIR domains of plant immune receptors are NAD+ cleaving enzymes tat promote cell death’. This work was a collaboration with Jeff Milbrant’s lab at Washington University, St. Louis. The paper demonstrates that a major class of plant intracellular immune receptors, called NLRs, feature an N-terminal signaling domain, called TIR, that, instead of functioning as a scaffold as predicted from animal innate immunity studies, instead function as an enzyme that cleaves a common cellular energy storing molecule and likely generates a small molecule signal required for downstream activation of cell death and immune response. This work will re-orient ongoing studies of TIR domain function in plant innate immunity and contribute to development of sustainable agriculture. READ MORE >>