In all domains of life, natural selection crafted mechanisms to defend against pathogens. Remarkably, some of the evolved proteins are shared among all domains of life, including nucleotide binding leucine-rich repeat immune receptors (NLRs) 1/n

NLRs are key parts of the inate immune systems of animals, plants & bacteria, recognizing pathogen features- generalized like peptidoglycan or more specific like bacterial effector proteins. In some plant NLRs unconventional integrated domains are the recognition module 2/n

However, these receptors lack the broad adaptability of the vertebrate adaptive immune system, which can generate antibodies against virtually any antigen to which it is exposed. The @KamounLab now has developed a clever approach to bridge this gap 3/n
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36862785/

The approach is deceptive simple: replace the unconventional integrated domain with the recognition domain of a single chain antibody (a nanobody). As a proof of principle, they used well characterized nanobodies against GFP or mCherry 4/n

They tested an array of such nanobodies, looking for ones that triggered a protective hypersensitive response that was specific for the targeted antigen 5/n

They next showed these engineered NLRs could reduce the titer of viruses engineered to express with GFP or mCherry 6/n

In the field, farmers would love to "stack" resistance genes, combining them in a single plant-- they found their engineered NLR proteins could act in this way, conveying dual resistance 7/n

As the authors note, "given that nanobodies can be
readily generated to bind virtually any antigen,
Pikobodies have the potential to produce
made-to-order resistance genes against any
pathogen or pest that delivers effectors inside
host plant cells" 8/n

I agree with my friend Jeff Dangl, a pioneer in plant immunity, who noted in a accompanying commentary: “It’s a really creative and bold approach”. As Roger innes notes: “This would be much, much faster than standard plant breeding and hopefully much more effective.” 9/n