A root-knot nematode secretory peptide functions as a ligand for a plant transcription factor.

Parasitism genes expressed in the esophageal gland cells of root-knot nematodes encode proteins that are secreted into host root cells to transform the recipient cells into enlarged multinucleate feeding cells called giant-cells. Expression of a root-knot nematode parasitism gene which encodes a novel 13-amino-acid secretory peptide in plant tissues stimulated root growth. Two SCARECROW-like transcription factors of the GRAS protein family were identified as the putative targets for this bioactive nematode peptide in yeast two-hybrid analyses and confirmed by in vitro and in vivo coimmunoprecipitations. This discovery is the first demonstration of a direct interaction of a nematode-secreted parasitism peptide with a plant-regulatory protein, which may represent an early signaling event in the root-knot nematode-host interaction.