Regulation of plant innate immunity by three proteins in a complex conserved across the plant and animal kingdoms.

Innate immunity against pathogen infection is an evolutionarily conserved process among multicellular organisms. Arabidopsis SNC1 encodes a Resistance protein that combines attributes of multiple mammalian pattern recognition receptors. Utilizing snc1 as an autoimmune model, we identified a discrete protein complex containing at least three members--MOS4 (Modifier Of snc1, 4), AtCDC5, and PRL1 (Pleiotropic Regulatory Locus 1)--that are all essential for plant innate immunity. AtCDC5 has DNA-binding activity, suggesting that this complex probably regulates defense responses through transcriptional control. Since the complex components along with their interactions are highly conserved from fission yeast to Arabidopsis and human, they may also have a yet-to-be-identified function in mammalian innate immunity.