Twisting mode of supercoil leucine-rich domain mediates peptide sensing in FLS2–flg22–BAK1 complex*

Abstract

Plants and animals recognize microbial invaders by detecting pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) through pattern-recognition receptors (PRRs). This recognition plays a crucial role in plant immunity. The newly discovered protein in plants that responds to bacterial flagellin, i.e., flagellin-sensitive 2 (FLS2), is ubiquitously expressed and present in many plants. The association of FLS2 and BAK1, facilitated by a highly conserved epitope flg22 of flagellin, triggers such downstream immune responses as activated MAPK pathway and elevated reactive oxygen species (ROS) for bacterial defense and plant immunity. Here we study the intrinsic dynamics and conformational change of FLS2 upon the formation of the FLS2–flg22–BAK1 complex. The top intrinsic normal modes and principal structural fluctuation components are very similar, showing two bending modes and one twisting mode. The twisting mode alone, however, accounts for most of the conformational change of FLS2 induced by binding with flg22 and BAK1. This study indicates that flg22 binding suppresses FLS2 conformational fluctuation, especially on the twisting motion, thus facilitating FLS2–BAK1 interaction. A detailed analysis of this sensing mechanism may aid better design on both PRR and peptide mimetics for plant immunity.