Laboratory

Laboratory of Plant Immunity

Coevolution of Plants and Microbes — Robust Plant Immunity and Diverse Infection Strategies of Microbes
Research Theme
Molecular mechanisms of pathogen recognition by plant immune receptors / Mechanisms of immune signal activation and regulation in plants / Strategies used by pathogenic microorganisms to infect host plants
Research Keywords

Plant-microbe interaction, Plant immunity, Pathogen infection, Immune receptor, Effector, Signaling, Genome, Genetics, Biochemistry, Cell biology, Molecular biology, Plant physiology, Live cell imaging, Structural biology, Structure modeling, Gene editing

Staff

Overview of Research and Education

Crops suffer devastating damage due to plant diseases. Therefore, breeding disease-resistant crops is critical for global food production. While severe plant diseases are reported in agricultural fields, plants often grow healthily in natural environments. This suggests that plants possess effective immune systems against pathogenic microorganisms, allowing them to protect themselves from diseases. From the perspective of coevolution in plant-microbe interactions, we aim to gain a fundamental understanding of the plant immune system. In particular, we focus on plant NLR (nucleotide-binding leucine-rich repeat) immune receptors to understand the molecular mechanisms underlying the diversity of pathogen recognition, immune activation as well as the infection strategies employed by pathogens.

Laboratory of Plant Immunity (pdf)

Charge

Contact

Address
〒060-0810
N10, W8, Kita-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido
Phone
011-706-3807
E-mail
hadachi*sci.hokudai.ac.jp (Please replace*with @ when sending e-mail.)

Representative Publications

T. Sakai, A. Toghani, and H. Adachi: Phylogenomics of Plant NLR Immune Receptors to Identify Functionally Conserved Sequence Motifs, BIO-PROTOCOL, 14, (2024).

T. Sakai, M. P. Contreras, C. Martinez-Anaya, D. Lüdke, S. Kamoun, C.-H. Wu, and H. Adachi: The NRC0 gene cluster of sensor and helper NLR immune receptors is functionally conserved across asterid plants, The Plant Cell, 36, 3344-3361, (2024).

H. Adachi, T. Sakai, J. Kourelis, H. Pai, J. L. Gonzalez Hernandez, Y. Utsumi, M. Seki, A. Maqbool, and S. Kamoun: Jurassic NLR: Conserved and dynamic evolutionary features of the atypically ancient immune receptor ZAR1, The Plant Cell, 35, 3662-3685, (2023).

H. Adachi, T. Sakai, A. Harant, H. Pai, K. Honda, A. Toghani, J. Claeys, C. Duggan, T. O. Bozkurt, C.-H. Wu, and S. Kamoun: An atypical NLR protein modulates the NRC immune receptor network in Nicotiana benthamiana, PLoS Genetics, 19, e1010500, (2023).

Harant, H. Pai, T. Sakai, S. Kamoun, and H. Adachi: A vector system for fast-forward studies of the HOPZ-ACTIVATED RESISTANCE1 (ZAR1) resistosome in the model plant Nicotiana benthamiana, Plant Physiology, 188, 70-80, (2022).

H. Adachi, M. P. Contreras, A. Harant, C.-H. Wu, L. Derevnina, T. Sakai, C. Duggan, E. Moratto, T. O. Bozkurt, A. Maqbool, J. Win, and S. Kamoun: An N-terminal motif in NLR immune receptors is functionally conserved across distantly related plant species, eLife, 8, e49956, (2019).