Overexpression of Twin-Arginine Translocation (TAT) Pathway Conferred Immunity to Xanthomonas oryzae pv oryzae in Rice

Twin-arginine translocation (TAT) pathway is the latest protein translocation machinery discovered which provides alternative pathway for translocation of folded proteins across a lipid membrane bilayer. It is comprised of stoichiometric amounts of TatB and TatC, which binds proteins harboring twin-arginine signal peptide, and TatA which forms the translocation channel. TAT pathway is found in in the bacterial cytoplasmic membrane, as well as in the cyanobacterial and plant thylakoid membranes. To date, most of our understanding of TAT function has been based on comprehensive studies using Gram-negative bacteria, from which we learned its crucial role in virulence, flagellation, and chemotaxis of the pathogens, while investigation highlighting its role in the plants is limited. So far there is no evidence for the involvement of plants TAT pathway in the host resistance to invading pathogen hence this study was conducted. Specifically, this study was carried out to explore additional biological function of rice’ TAT pathway in rice – Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae pathosystem.