On 13 May 2025, Jiorgos Kourelis will present insights to his current research as part of the SNP2Prot Colloquium Series.
Speaker: Jiorgos Kourelis (Imperial College London, GB)
Title: Pikobodies: What does it take to bioengineer NLR immune receptor-nanobody fusions
Date: Tuesday, 13 May 2025
Time: 12:30 pm
Location: Lecture hall (GHS) of Biochemistry, Kurt-Mothes-Straße 3 (Weinberg Campus), 06120 Halle (Saale)
Abstract: Recurrent epidemics caused by plant pathogens pose a significant threat to global food security. While modifying natural components has been successful to retool the plant immune system, this approach can be rapidly rendered ineffective by the emergence of new pathogen strains. Made-to-order synthetic plant immune receptors, however, offer a promising solution for tailored resistance to pathogen genotypes present in the field. Here we define four technical and conceptual advances which enabled successful engineering of NLR immune receptor-nanobody fusions, termed Pikobodies, for this purpose. These advances include 1)evolutionary analysis to identify domain boundaries, 2) structural modelling to predict nanobody integration boundaries, 3) rapid screening using transient immune and disease assays, and 4) guided mutagenesis to abolish autoactivity triggered by some nanobody integrations. We show that plant immune receptors can serve as effective scaffolds for nanobodies that bind fluorescent proteins (FPs), and that the resulting immune receptor-nanobody fusions trigger immune responses and confer resistance against plant viruses expressing FPs. Since nanobodies can be raised against most molecules, immune receptor-nanobody fusions have the potential to generate resistance against most plant pathogens and pests delivering effectors inside host cells.
If you like to meet with the speaker, please contact the host, Mariana Schuster.
See all SNP2Prot colloquia listed here: https://snp2prot.uni-halle.de/events/category/colloquium/
The SNP2Prot Colloquium Series is integrated to the
- Halle Plant Science Colloquium (HPSC) – https://www.landw.uni-halle.de/prof/pflanzenernaehrung/hpsc/
- IPB Seminar Series – https://www.ipb-halle.de/forschung/symposien-und-kolloquien/vortraege/ipb-seminare