Luyang Zhang Rose Hills
Deaminase Expression and Activity in Plants
Plants defend themselves against disease using germline-encoded innate immune receptors. Even so, pathogens are particularly challenging in that they often reproduce more rapidly than plants and tend to accumulate mutations that drive their evolution and diversification at an elevated pace. This accelerated evolutionary process necessitates the development of equally dynamic plant mechanisms of pathogen recognition.
Deaminases are enzymes that remove amine groups from their nucleotide substrates. Existing literature indicates that certain classes of deaminases are capable of creating cytosine to uracil point mutations in DNA that contribute to bacterial and vertebrate immune response. We propose that the mutator activity of deaminases promotes immune receptor diversity in plants, and seek to assess its role in the plant immune response as a proof-of-concept.
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