Ligand-recognizing motifs in plant LysM receptors are major determinants of specificity

Switching perception of friend and foe Lysine motif receptors in plants perceive glycans that signal the presence of pathogenic or symbiotic nitrogen-fixing microbes. Bozsoki et al. now define the portions of these receptors that create the discriminatory binding pocket (see the Perspective by Bisseling and Geurts). The motifs were conserved in receptors that initiate immune responses, reflecting the invariable nature of the chitin fragments that they sense. Conversely, the motifs in receptors that respond to symbiotic signals were more varied, reflecting the greater diversity of the lipochitooligosaccharides (Nod factors) that they sense. With domain swapping, the authors switched the Nod factor specificity of receptors from two legume species and also enabled a chitin receptor that was otherwise dedicated to the detection of pathogenic microbes to instead recognize Nod factors. Science , this issue p. 663 ; see also p. 620