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Plant/animal hybrid proteins

could help crops fend off
diseases
'Pikobodies' loan plant immune systems a uniquely animal trait: flexibility

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Scientists gave the immune system of Nicotiana benthamiana, a tobacco relative, a boost by fusing one of its pathogen sensors with small antibodies from llamas
and alpacas.
SEAN GALLUP/GET TY IMAGES

By Erin Garcia de Jesús

MARCH 2, 2023 AT 2:00 PM

A new biological mashup just dropped.

“Pikobodies,” bioengineered immune system proteins that are part plant and part
animal, could help flora better fend off diseases, researchers report in the March
3 Science. The protein hybrids exploit animals’ uniquely flexible immune systems,
loaning plants the ability to fight off emerging pathogens.

Flora typically rely on physical barriers to keep disease-causing microbes at bay. If

something unusual makes it inside the plants, internal sensors sound the alarm
and infected cells die. But as pathogens evolve ways to dodge these defenses,
plants can’t adapt in real time. Animals’ adaptive immune systems can, making a
wealth of antibodies in a matter of weeks when exposed to a pathogen.

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In a proof-of-concept study, scientists genetically modified one plant’s internal

sensor to sport animal antibodies. The approach harnesses the adaptive immune
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system’s power to make almost unlimited adjustments to target invaders and
lends it to plants, says plant immunologist Xinnian Dong, a Howard Hughes
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work.

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and pests. A farm is more like a buffet.

Researchers have had success fine-tuning plant genes to be disease-resistant, but

finding the right genes and editing them can take more than a decade, says plant
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To create the pikobodies, the team fused small antibodies from llamas and
alpacas with a protein called Pik-1 that’s found on the cells of Nicotiana
benthamiana, a close relative of tobacco plants. Pik-1 typically detects a protein
that helps a deadly blast fungus infect plants (SN: 7/10/17). For this test, the
animal antibodies had been engineered to target fluorescent proteins HEALTH & MEDICINE

Pollution mucks up the lungs’

immune defenses over time
By Aimee Cunningham • November
Plants with the pikobodies killed cells exposed to the fluorescent proteins, 21, 2022
resulting in dead patches on leaves, the team found. Of 11 tested versions, four
were not toxic to the leaves and triggered cell death only when the pikobodies
attached to the specific protein that they had been designed bind.

What’s more, pikobodies can be combined to give plants more than one way to
attack a foreign invader. That tactic could be useful to hit pathogens with the
nimble ability to dodge some immune responses from multiple angles.

Theoretically, it’s possible to make pikobodies “against virtually any pathogen we

study,” Kamoun says. But not all pikobody combos worked together in tests. “It’s
a bit hit or miss,” he says. “We need some more basic knowledge to improve the
bioengineering.”

Questions or comments on this article? E-mail us

at feedback@sciencenews.org | Reprints FAQ

CITATIONS
J. Kourelis et al. NLR immune receptor-nanobody fusions confer plant disease resistance. Science. Vol. 379, March 3, 2023,
p. 934. doi: 10.1126/science.abn4116.

About Erin Garcia de Jesús

Erin I. Garcia de Jesus is a staff writer at Science News. She holds a Ph.D. in
microbiology from the University of Washington and a master’s in science
communication from the University of California, Santa Cruz.

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