Potato cyst nematode effector RBP-1 targets the Ran cycle by mimicking Ran cycle components

One of the most studied effector genes in the field of plant parasitic nematodes is GpRBP-1 from the potato cyst nematode Globodera pallida. This is largely due to the discovery of its matching immune receptor Gpa2 which to date, remains the only matching effector-R gene pair identified for plant-nematode interactions. GpRBP-1 was first isolated from G. rostochiensis by cDNA-AFLP and identified as putative pathogenicity factor A18. SSH transcripts of G. mexicana and G. pallida were found to match the A18 factor with homology to Ran binding protein to microtubules (RanBPM, or Ran in short) which is a small GTPase protein and is the core of the energy driven Ran cycle. Interestingly, despite the amount of functional and molecular research about GpRBP-1 in terms of virulence, functional homology to Ran or other Ran cycle related proteins has never been tested. Here we hypothesized that RBP-1 targets components of the Ran cycle to manipulate nucleo-cytoplasmic trafficking, which aids in evading or suppressing plant immune responses.